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LOTTIE’S WOOING. 






LOTTIE’S WOOING 




w/' 


DARLEY DALE 

AUTHOR OF “THE VILLAGE BLACKSMITH,” ETC, 


{ l^'Av 17 




NEW YORK 

CASSELL PUBLISHING COMPANY 

104 & 106 F'ourth Avenue 



Copyright, 1893, by 

CASSELL PUBLISHING COMPANY. 


A// rights reserved. 


THE MERSHON COMPANY PRESS, 
RAHWAY, N. J. 


CONTENTS 


CHAPTER 

I. “ A Cottage OF Gentility,” 

II. Lottie’s Rival, .... 

III. A Dangerous Neighbor, 

IV. Lily Entertains a Visitor, 

V. Lottie’s Problem, 

VI. Mrs. Vaughan at Home, . 

VII. The Promise of May, . 

VIII. Shadows OF THE Future, 

IX. The Well-Dressing, . 

X. For Alec’s Sake, .... 

XI. Starlight 

XII. Lottie is Nervous, .... 

XIII. In Arden, 

XIV. Lottie’s Decoration, 

XV. In the Van, 

XVI. Singed Wings, 

XVII. The Straightest Path, 

XVIII. Singed! 

XIX. Good-by Forever, 

XX. Lottie’s Sphinx, .... 

XXI. The Artist is Offended, 

XXII. The Abduction, .... 

XXIII. Lottie Practices Self-Examination, 

iii 


PAGE 

I 

15 

22 

30 

39 

48 

62 

72 

82 

89 

95 

104 

116 

128 

140 

iri 

i/i 

171 

178 

191 

202 

210 

218 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER PAGE 

XXIV. Under a Cloud, 225 

XXV. Mr. Barrett is Made Jealous, .... 234 

XXVI. In the Rain, 244 

XXVII. “ Those Dreadful Girls ! ” 251 

XXVIII. The Last Trick, 259 

XXIX. Lottie Half Controls Her Doom, . . .271 

XXX. The First Tiff, 282 

XXXI. The Unexpected 291 

XXXII. Kitty is Roused, 302 

XXXIII. Lily Advises Lottie, 312 

XXXIV. The Source of the Lathkild, .... 316 

XXXV. Mr. Savage’s Revenge, 323 

XXXVI. Lottie’s Penance, 335 

XXXVII. Concerns Mr. Barrett, 341 

XXXVHI. Mrs. Vaughan Rises to the Occasion, . . 350 

XXXIX. Tn which Confessions are Heard, . . . 357 

XL. Conclusion, 364 


LOTTIE’S WOOING 


CHAPTER I. 

A COTTAGE OF GENTILITY.” 

He saw a cottage with a double coachhouse, 

A cottage of gentility. 

And the devil did grin, for his darling sin 
Is the pride that apes humility. 

— Coleridge. 

WoRKWELL is a fourth-rate town in the county of Derby ; 
it stands high in the Peak, and is bounded on two sides by 
a range of lofty rugged hills, the slopes of which are for 
the most part moorland, but the lower ground is often well 
wooded. 

The woods are mostly composed of larches and pines, 
and as coal is cheap in this corner of the world, the trees 
are allowed to grow for twenty years, till their tall, straight 
trunks are long enough to make ladders and scaffolding 
poles. 

The pasturage in the valleys is very rich, and the 
meadows round Workwell, which are well watered by a 
rapid little river, were already donning their fresh green 
clothing, although it was still early in the year. 

Workwell, which, by the way, bears another name on the 
map, though for the purposes of this story it is not neces- 
sary to be more specific in designating it, is a clean little 
town, with a very fine. old church, which stands on an 
eminence in the center of the town and possesses a noted 
peal of bells, which bells seemed, to those unfortunate 
people who are made melancholy by the sound of bells, to 
be always ringing. 


2 


LOTTIE'S ir DOING. 


They were ringing merrily at noon one Lady-day to the 
great annoyance of a certain young lady who had just made 
their acquaintance. She was standing listening to them in 
an empty room in an empty house, rather unsuitably called 
The Cottage, which stood at the beginning of the High 
Street, just on the outskirts of the town. 

The Cottage was a very bright little house, with bay 
windows in the drawing room and dining room and the bed- 
rooms over them ; there was about half an acre of garden 
at the side, a stable yard containing coachhouse and 
stable, and the whole premises were shut off from the road 
by high wooden doors. 

It was an unpretentious little place, but it was not a villa, 
and it 7ms detached, two facts which Miss Lottie Vaughan, 
who had chosen it as a residence for her mother, considered 
two of its greatest merits ; it possessed a third recommen- 
dation in her eyes — the rent was low, but low as it was the 
rent was rather more than her mother’s income quite justi- 
fied her in giving, but, as she said, they must economize in 
something else. 

The Cottage was at present unfurnished, and Mrs. 
Vaughan and her two daughters had just arrived to take 
possession of it. 

They had walked up from the station, leaving Jack, Mrs. 
Vaughan’s only son, to follow with their personal luggage ; 
their furniture they were eagerly and momentarily expect- 
ing to arrive ; in fact, they were surprised that it had not 
come sooner. 

They had been living in Jersey, and had left that remark- 
able little island a day or two earlier than the furniture and 
the man who was moving it, in order to spend a few days 
with some friends at Weymouth. The man, who was to 
cross the Channel by the Southampton boat, had now had 
ample time to arrive, and Miss Lottie Vaughan, who had 
chosen the house and made all the arrangements for the 
removal of their goods and chattels, was inwardly anxious 
and outwardly vexed at his delay. 

“ Oh, those bells ! I wish they would leave off ringing ; 
they are maddening,” she exclaimed impatiently as Mrs. 
Vaughan, who had just made a tour of inspection of her 
new house, seated her portly person on a camp stool before 


COTTAGE OF GENTILITY: 


3 


the fire, which was blazing to welcome them, this same 
camp stool being the only article of furniture the house at 
present contained. 

“ They are ringing us in, Lottie,” said the younger girl, 
who was sitting on the wide window seat. 

“ I wish they’d ring that dawdle Goodman and the furni- 
ture in,” said Lottie. 

“ Whati-^iz// we do if it does not come to-day, Lottie?” 
asked Lily. 

“ We must go into lodgings or go to an hotel,? said Mrs. 
Vaughan placidly. 

“ My dear mother, we can’t possibly afford to do either ; 
we shall have to live very carefully indeed for the next three 
months ; as it is, this move has cost us a lot of money,” said 
Lottie. 

“ I told you so, Lottie. Three removes are as bad as a 
fire. But you would leave Jersey ; it was all your doing. 
I should never have had the spirit to do it,” said Mrs. 
Vaughan, whose too, too solid flesh was not suggestive of 
any spirit underlying it. 

“ I know that, mother ; I’ll take the responsibility. But 
you did agree with me that Jersey was a very bad place for 
Jack, and for Lily too,” said Lottie, still watching the 
wooden doors in the hope of seeing them thrown open to 
admit the vans. 

“ True, I did.” ' 

“ Well, I should never have married there, though I never 
expect to have half the fun in England I had in Jersey,” 
said Lottie. 

“You have had plenty of fun, Lottie ; it is Lily’s turn for 
that now. You ought to be looking out for a husband, 
though I am sure I don’t know how I should ever do with- 
out you.” 

“ I have looked out, mother. Come here, Lily ; do you 
see that large house they are building on that hill facing us ? ” 

“Yes,” said Lily, looking across some meadojvs toward a 
half-built house on the slope of the opposite hill. 

“Well, our landlord, Mr. Barrett, who is the duke’s 
agent, is building that house for himself. He is rich and 
a bachelor, and he is now living at the hotel in the High 
Street.” 


4 


LOTTIE* S WOOIHG. 


“ Well ? ” asked Lily. 

“I mean to marry Mr. Barrett, that is all,” said Lottie 
frankly. 

“ Why, you don’t know him, Lottie ! ” 

“ True, I have only seen him once when I hired the 
house ; but I mean to marry him, notwithstanding that, 
when his new house is finished.” 

“ Suppose he does not ask you ? ” 

“ He must be made to ask me, that’s all. My dear Lily, 
when you are as old as I am you will know a woman who 
is not absolutely ugly, nor quite a fool, can marry any man she 
has made up her mind to marry,” said Lottie rather grandly. 

“ How is it there are so many old maids, then ? ” 

“ Because some women don’t want to marry, others who 
do want to don’t know their power, and others prefer to 
remain single rather than to exercise it.” 

“ I would a thousand times rather die an old maid than 
exercise it,” said Lily. 

“ My dear child, you will never have any need to do so ; 
it will be an emharras de richesses, a plethora of husbands in 
your case. I am different ; I wasted my time and oppor- 
tunities in Jersey flirting with subs ; now, for the sake of 
Jack and you, it is incumbent on me to marry a rich man. 
Nothing short of that can retrieve our fallen fortunes and 
put you and Jack in the position you were born to occupy ; 
so for the sake of my family I mean to do it.” 

“ How you do run on, Lottie ; I never heard such a girl,” 
said Mrs. Vaughan admiringly. 

Circumstances directed me here, circumstances over 
which I had no control made a rich bachelor our landlord ; 
he wants a wife to manage that new house when it is ready, 
I want a husband. Circumstances have thrown us together. 
I shall take the advantage of circumstances and supply Mr. 
Barrett with a wife,” said Lottie, dancing lightly up and 
down the empty room as she spoke. 

“ Ah ! well, what is to be will be, I suppose,” said Mrs. 
Vaughan, warming her fat red hands at the fire. 

“ No, mother, I never said that ; that is sheer fatalism. 
I don’t mean to sit down quietly in this house and be the 
sport of circumstances ; that is cowardly, to my mind. I 
mean to use circumstances as the means to my end, which 


COTTAGE OF GENTILITY. 


5 


I believe to be a kind of genius, the only kind I possess, 
unless it be a genius for making two hundred pound a year go 
as far as five hundred pound a year does with other people,” 
said Lottie, pausing again at the window to look for any 
sign of Goodman. 

“ Ah ! you are clever enough at that, in fact I don’t know 
what you are not clever at ; it seems to me you can do any- 
thing you give your mind to, so I dare say you’ll marry 
Mr. Barrett if you have set your heart on it,” said Mrs. 
Vaughan. 

“ I don’t think I have displayed much talent in bringing 
you into an empty house in such cold, blustering weather as 
this,” said Lottie. 

It was a bitterly cold day, and it was blowing half a gale, 
and the wind whistled wildly through the empty house, and 
shook the windows, and blew open some doors and banged 
others in a most impertinent and irritating manner, till 
Lottie’s restlessness and anxiety became visible. 

“ Oh ! why does not that wretched man come? I’ll send 
Jack out to make inquiries about him as soon as he arrives 
with the boxes,” she said impatiently. 

“ Where are you going to place the piano, Lottie, when 
it does arrive ? ” asked Lily. 

“ Let me see. Well, I think there, opposite the window. 
The oak cabinet must go on this side of the room, the pier 
glass in that recess, and father’s portrait over the fireplace. 
Those are all fixed stars ; the rest of the furniture for this 
room is like the planets — it must move round according to 
the season,” said Lottie, trying to forget her undefined fear 
lest anything had happened to the furniture in planning its 
arrangement. 

“ I don’t think much of the hall, Lottie ; I like a large 
hall,” said Lily as Mrs. Vaughan began to nod, for she 
spent a great deal of time napping. 

“ W’ait till we get the grandfather clock opposite the hall 
door, and the horns and the warming pan hung up on that 
wall, a few rugs thrown about, and some drapery, and 
you’ll see it will look quite imposing. O Goodman ! do 
come ; I am longing to begin to arrange the things. Let’s go 
upstairs again, Lil, and decide where the wardrobes are to 


6 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


The two girls ran upstairs, and we will take advantage of 
their absence to describe their personal appearance. 

Lottie was very reticent about her age, but according to ’ 
the family Bible, which was always kept under lock and key, 
she was twenty-eight her last birthday. She was not pretty 
—she just missed deserving that epithet — but she was an 
attractive girl, and one of her charms was her voice, which 
was low and sweet and«sympathetic. She was rather small, 
with pretty hands and feet, and a very pretty little figure ; 
captious critics said her waist was too small in proportion to 
her bust, but Lottie was wont to say it only looked small 
because it was so round ; and no matter how old her dress 
was it always fitted like a glove. 

Her hair was beautiful — a sunny, golden brown, with 
lights and shades in it, and it was always well dressed in 
the prevailing fashion, for she was of opinion that well- 
arranged hair gave a certain air of distinction. Her com- 
plexion was fresh and ruddy, and one of the trials of her 
life was that she was inclined to have too much color, and 
her greatest terror was lest she should grow as stout and as 
red as her mother. 

Mrs. Vaughan was not by any means an aristocratic look- 
ing woman ; on the contrary, she looked exceedingly like a 
xiook. Jersey gossips said she did originally belong to that 
useful class of society. She was short, very stout, very 
round, very red, also, unlike some cooks, very good tem- 
pered, very fond of nodding and napping over a book, 
and leaving her household affairs to her very capable elder 
daughter to manage. 

She dressed in perpetual weeds : Lottie considered they 
toned down her complexion, and as she had a weakness for 
very bright colors, one of the difficulties of Lottie’s life was 
removed by keeping her in mourning. Jersey gossips did 
not hit the right nail on the head when they said she was 
once a cook. She was really a farmer’s daughter, whom 
Captain Vaughan had fallen in love with when he was a 
midshipman and she a pretty girl living in the village of 
which his father was the squire. 

Captain Vaughan died at sea some ten years before this 
story opens, and his widow, who at the time of his death 
was living in Jersey, remained there till the education of 


**A COTTAGE OF GENTILITY, 


7 


her children was finished. His only son, Jack, now seven- 
teen years old, was studying for Sandhurst, his uncle having 
offered to pay his expenses there if he passed the prelimi- 
nary examination before his eighteenth birthday. 

Lily, the younger daughter, was a pretty edition of 
Lottie ; her features were more regular, her complexion 
more delicate, her manner much quieter than Lottie’s ; she 
was an amiable, innocent little girl, not overburdened with 
brains, the pet of the family, but rather kept in the back- 
ground by Lottie, who was nevertheless very fond and proud 
of her younger sister. 

There was a vein of coarseness in Lottie, inherited from 
her mother, which sometimes jarred upon Lily’s more refined 
nature ; for instance, when Lottie announced her intention 
of marrying Mr. Barrett, Lily blushed for very shame at 
her sister’s want of womanly dignity ; but still she admired 
Lottie, and looked up to her as a model in many ways. In 
fact, Lottie was a sort of household goddess, and the first 
article of faith in the Vaughan family was to believe in 
Lottie, their first duty to man to put their whole trust in 
her, while they “ dreed their weird ” in that state and local- 
ity in which it pleased Lottie to place them. 

It had now pleased her to bring them to Workwell to 
fret out their destiny in that town — firstly, because they 
had some rich connections in the neighborhood, under the 
shadow of whose wings they could slip into society ; sec- 
ondly, because The Cottage was just the very house for 
them ; thirdly, because, as Lottie had frankly confessed, 
she meant to marry their landlord. 

She was the pivot upon which the family turned ; some 
latent force set her in motion, and her family was perforce 
obliged to revolve with her. 

She was dressmaker, milliner, cook, and housekeeper to 
the others ; she kept Jack up to his work ; shd managed 
her mother, who was as plastic clay in her hands, and 
screened her vulgarity as much as possible ; she chose their 
circle of acquaintances, and knew exactly where to draw the 
line, and how to draw it, which, as she sometimes said, was 
the more difficult task. In short, though by no means intel- 
lectual, Lottie was a very clever woman, and as remarkable 
a housewife as her celebrated prototype, whose passive and 


8 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


persistent cutting of bread and butter in spite of her lover’s 
distressing condition on a shutter has rendered her immortal. 

The position of the expected wardrobes had not been 
definitely settled when Mr. John Vaughan walked into the 
house, and told his elder sister to come downstairs and see 
where the boxes were to go. 

“Has the furniture come?” exclaimed Lottie, rushing 
downstairs in a great state of excitement. 

“The furniture ! My dear Lottie, I know nothing about 
the furniture. I was laboring under the pleasant delusion 
that it was in this house ; for aught I know to the contrary 
it may be at the bottom of the sea,” said Jack, calmly 
knocking the ash off the cigar he was smoking as he leant 
on the balusters. 

He was a good-looking boy, with a round, good-tempered 
face, and the fresh complexion which seemed to be a family 
characteristic. He had a pleasant voice and gentlemanly 
manners ; he was somewhat of a dandy, but he had not a 
scrap of conceit about him at present ; he hated work, and 
loved nothing better than teasing his sisters. 

“ Don’t talk such nonsense, Jack,” said Lottie hastily as 
she proceeded to tell the flyman where to carry the boxes. 

“ I merely made a probable, though perhaps not alto- 
gether a happy suggestion as to its present locality. Let 
us hope it is merely on the sea, not in it, nor under it,” said 
Jack. 

“ Do be quiet. Jack. Carry the plate chest upstairs and 
lock it up in one of the rooms, and don’t stand there talk- 
ing such utter twaddle,” said Lottie, who was getting more 
and more anxious about the furniture. 

Jack obeyed the first part of this order, but continued to 
discourse on the probabilities of his suggestion being the 
correct, though undesirable, solution of the mysterious delay 
in Goodman’s arrival. 

“ Now, Jack,” said Lottie when the boxes were carried 
upstairs and the flyman dismissed, “ I want you to go into 
the town and make inquiries about this wretch Goodman 
and the furniture.” 

“ My dear Lottie,” said Jack slowly and impressively, “ I 
don't stir from this house until I have inspected the prem- 
ises, and had a good round meal. I am dying of hunger 


COTTAGE OF GEN IT LIT YT 


9 


and curiosity. Hunger is the more pressing need, but from 
the observations I made on my way here there seems noth- 
ing to be had in this city but Spa ornaments and photo- 
graphs of the surrounding country. I can’t laugh on 
gypsum nor on photographs.” 

“ There is a very good confectioner close by ; you may 
go and get some meat patties and biscuits, and we will picnic 
indoors to-day ; perhaps by the time you come back the 
furniture will have arrived.” 

A few minutes after Jack had started on an errand 
thoroughly congenial to him, there was a ring at the door 
bell, and Lily ran to open the door, exclaiming : 

“ There is Goodman at last ! ” 

There was a short pause, and then Lily reappeared, look- 
ing rather alarmed. 

“ Lottie, do come here ; it is Goodman, but he seems 
dazed ; there are no vans, and I can’t get anything out of 
him. He won’t come in.” 

“ Nonsense ! he must come in. Well, Goodman, come 
in, please ; I have been expecting you for the last hour and 
a half ; I thought you would have had some of the furniture 
in before we arrived,” said Lottie, going to the hall. 

Goodman, a small, wiry man, stood just inside the hall, 
twirling his hat round and round, and looking the picture 
of misery. He was very pale, and his hands shook so he 
could scarcely hold his hat, and when, at Lottie’s command, 
he moved forward, his knees trembled under him so that he 
could only stagger like a tipsy man across the hall ; and 
yet he did not look as if he had been drinking. 

Lottie’s vague nervousness began to take a more definite 
shape, but her fears were still wide of the mark. 

“ Well, Goodman, I am very glad you have come. Dear 
me, how ill you look ! Did you have a very bad passage ? ” 
said Mrs. Vaughan, turning round on her stool to look at 
the packer. Lottie was inwardly longing to shake him. 

“ No, ma’am. Yes, ma’am. I don’t know, ma’am. I 
mean an awful passage, ma’am,” stammered the luckless 
man. . 

“ Is the man daft ? ” whispered Lottie to Lily. 

“ Where’s the furniture ? ” she asked aloud. 

“ The furniture ? I — I — I don’t know. I mean I can’t 


lO 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


— I daren’t — I — oh ! my blessed goodness, I wish I had 
never been born,” gasped Goodman, mopping his forehead 
with a red handkerchief spotted with white. 

“ The man is as mad as a hatter, Lil. Has the furniture 
come, Goodman ? ” said Lottie slowly and emphatically. 

“ No, ma’am,” said Goodman, with a profound sigh, 

it’s — it’s gone.” 

“Gone! Where to? What stupid mistake have you 
made, Goodman ? ” said Lottie. 

“ The furniture not come ? But the house is empty, 
Goodman ; we have no beds, not so much as a chair to sit 
upon, till it arrives,” said Mrs. Vaughan. 

“ Oh, my dear, good ladies, for the love of Heaven forgive 
me ; I can never tell you ; oh, if this here floor would but 
open and swallow me up ! Oh, dear ! oh, dear ! the furni- 
ture is gone, ma’am. Gone, every stick of it ; gone,” gasped 
Goodman, throwing himself on his knees in front of Mrs. 
Vaughan to the intense amusement of Lily, who stood 
behind him shaking with suppressed laughter. 

“ The man is raving mad,” said Lottie as she stepped in 
front of him, and then, bending slightly forward, asked in 
slow and distinct tones : 

“Goodman, will you be good enough to answer this 
question, and leave these heroics for a more seasonable 
occasion ? Where is our furniture ?” 

The man continued to kneel before Mrs. Vaughan, trem- 
bling like an aspen, and then suddenly, just as Jack appeared 
on the threshold with his arms filled with paper bags of 
pastry, he blurted out : 

“ It is gone to the bottom, every stick of it, and, God 
forgive me, I wish I was with it.” 

Jack gave a long, low whistle, and dropped half the paper 
bags on the floor. Mrs. Vaughan, whose tears always lay 
close to the surface, burst into loud sobs, and cried : 

“ I am a poor widow, with only a roof over my head and 
the clothes I stand up in. Oh ! if my poor, dear husband 
could but see me ! ” 

Lottie staggered to the window sill, and, turning very 
pale, sank on to it, murmuring in impressive tones, “ We 
are ruined ! ” 

Lily looked from her mother to her sister, uncertain 


*‘A COTl'AGE OF GENTILITY.” 


II 


whether to laugh or to cry, and unable to grasp the truth 
of the calamity which had befallen them. 

“ What ? Everything lost } Does he mean everything, 
Lottie ? The piano, and the oak cabinet, and the pier 
glass, and the grandfather clock with the moon in it, that 
I was so fond of? ” said Lily. 

“ Every stick and stone, miss." 

“ Your poor, dear father’s portrait too, in his uniform 
with the epaulettes. And the beds — oh, dear, oh, dear, if 
poor, dear Vaughan could but see his widow stripped of 
everything, oh, what would he, would he say?" said Mrs. 
Vaughan, rocking herself backward and forward with 
such impetus that Lottie mechanically thought she would 
overbalance herself and come to the ground, stool and all. 

‘‘ Yes, ma’am, it is all gone ; it went down off Cherbourg," 
said Goodman, who now took a melancholy pleasure in 
making the loss clear to the ladies. 

“ Cherbourg ! What the dickens were you doing there ?" 
exclaimed Jack, picking up his parcels and putting them on 
to the case of china, the only thing except clothes and 
plate left to them. 

“ Well, sir, it was like this," said Goodman, who had risen 
from his knees, and, now that the ice was broken, was long- 
ing to unburden his soul by a full confession. “I 
thought I might as well bring the furniture over in a cutter 
instead of by the mail, as that was cheaper. I own it 
was very wrong of me, and I wish I had died before I 
thought of such a thing. I chartered a boat, and we got it 
all on board safe enough, and on Monday evening the 
skipper and his mate and I embarked, and if it had been a 
calm night all would have gone well ; but it wasn’t calm, 
ladies — ’twasn’t no fault of ours, sir, but it blew a gale." 

Here Goodman paused to take breath. 

“ Well, sir, we knew, laden as we were, if we got into 
the Race of Alderney in such a wild night we should never 
get out alive, so we made for Cherbourg ; but the boat could 
not live in such a sea — dirtier weather I never saw — and she 
went down about four o’clock on Tuesday morning, a mile 
from the French coast. We managed to swim to a rock, 
and were taken off by a fishing boat more dead than alive ; 
and I almost wish I had gone down with the furniture," 


12 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


“ If you wished you had gone down instead of it, it 
would be more to the point,” growled good-tempered Jack, 

“ O Goodman ! Goodman ! How could you go to 
treat a poor widow and my orphaned children so; why, we 
have not so much as a chair to sit upon.” 

“ Lucky you caught on to that old camp stool, mother,” 
said Jack, who was secretly alarmed at Lottie’s silence, and 
mentally measuring the extent of the calamity by its dura- 
tion. 

“ It is dreadful ! No pictures, no books, no knickknacks, 
no grandfather clock with the moon, no clock at all,” said 
Lily. 

“ No beds, no tables, no chairs, no china, no glass, no 
house linen, no kitchen things, not so much as a kettle left 
for a cup of tea,” groaned Mrs. Vaughan, whose lamenta- 
tions were chiefly confined to the more useful accessories 
of life. 

“ Look here, Goodman, I don’t want to say anything to 
you that I might regret in calmer moments, so if you would 
be so good as to clear out of here till we have recovered 
our normal equanimity I should be obliged to you. You 
can come in again later this evening, and we will discuss 
the matter further then,” said Jack, who was seriously 
alarmed at the apparently total collapse of Lottie. 

That young lady had not spoken since that brief ejacula- 
tion that they were ruined; unlike Lily, her quick brains had 
seized the situation at once, and as she knew better than 
any of the others how grave it was, she had cause to be 
dumfounded at the catastrophe. She sat like one stunned, 
while two facts were burnt into her brain : one, the amount 
of their balance in the bank ; the other, the loss of the 
furniture. 

As soon as Goodman had taken Jack’s advice and 
departed. Jack handed round the patties, and suggested 
they should have some luncheon before they took any 
further measures. 

Food never came amiss to Mrs. Vaughan nor to Jack; 
indeed, Lottie was the only one of the party who had no 
appetite, and she made no attempt to eat, but shook her 
head in hopeless silence when Jack tried to induce her to 
take something. 


COTTAGE OF GENTILITY. 


13 


As they ate, Lily and Jack discussed the various forms of 
punishment they considered Goodman merited, but Lottie 
was too much absorbed in her own thoughts to hear a word 
they said. 

“ How much money have we in the bank, Lottie ? ” said 
Mrs. Vaughan. 

Thirty pounds.’' 

“ And how long has that to last ? ” 

‘‘Till the dividends come next June. I dare not touch 
that thirty pounds for furniture,” said Lottie gloomily. 

“ But, Lottie, we must have beds and things; how are you 
going to get them ? ” asked her mother. 

“ I don’t know,” almost moaned Lottie. 

“ Oh'! don’t bother Lottie, mother ; she is sure to think 
of some way out of the difficulty. If you would only try 
one of these meat patties, Lottie, you’d be inspired with 
an idea ; do try, there’s a dear girl, to please me,” said 
Jack. 

To oblige him Lottie put out her right hand to take a 
patty, and as she did so her eyes fell on a handsome diamond 
ring, an heirloom, which she wore on her fourth finger. 
The sight of it gave her fresh courage, she saw a way out 
of the difficulty, and her whole manner changed in a 
moment. 

“ What an idiot I am. I forgot my ring. De Faye told 
me in Jersey I could get fifty pounds for it any day. Jack, 
you and I must go to the nearest town to-morrow and sell 
it. Cheer up, mother ; I see my way out of the wood now,” 
exclaimed Lottie, moving to the fire to warm herself, for 
the news had chilled her. 

“ O Lottie, and you are so fond of that ring ! ” said 
Lily, realizing the sacrifice her sister was about to make. 

“ What would your poor, dear father say if he knew you 
sold that ring, Lottie?” said Mrs. Vaughan. 

“ She need not sell it, she can send it to her uncle’s. I’ll 
take it for you, Lottie ; you can’t go into a pawnbroker’s. 
See the effect of that patty: ‘Richard’s himself again.’ 
Have another, Richard ? I knew you’d derive ghostly 
strength and mental inspiration from it,” said Jack, 

“I got you into the scrape, I am bound to get you out of 
it somehow. I was stunned at first ; I could not think of 


14 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


anything. I feel it is partly my fault ; I ought to have seen 
the furniture put on board myself,” said Lottie slowly. 

“ It wasn’t at all your fault, Lottie — I don’t blame you, but 
fifty pounds won’t furnish this house ; we had two hundred 
pounds’ worth at least,” said her mother. 

“ Fifty pounds used as I shall use it will go a long way ; 
I shall buy second-hand sofas and chairs, and upholster 
them myself ; and it is possible there may be a little sal- 
vage; as they went down so near land some of the things 
may be washed up. Well, Jack, you and I must go to 
Derby or Chesterfield to-morrow and see what we can get ; 
the question now is. What are we to do for to-night?” 

“ Make a good lunch, my dear girl, and I dare say you’ll 
be able to solve that problem. Lodgings, I understand, are 
incompatible with the state of our finances,” said Jack. 

“ Quite. Thank goodness, we have not a servant to pro- 
vide for. You and I can manage here, Jack; we have plenty 
of rugs — if we can borrow some pillows we will make up 
some beds on the boxes.” 

“ All right ; if you can manage, I can. There is the 
traveling bath, so we can have a bath. But what’s to 
become of mother and Lil ? ” 

“ That’s the difficulty, because we know no one here at 
present. I have it. Jack, you must goto The Crown and 
ask for Mr. Barrett — he lives there : he is our landlord, so 
he is bound to be civil. Tell him what has happened ; 
hint that economy is an object, and ask him if he knows 
anyone who would be charitable enough to give mother 
and Lil a bed for to-night. Perhaps the rector of the parish 
would do so ; I don’t know anything about him, but Mr. 
Barrett, of course, does.” 

“All right ; I’ll go.” 

“ And ask him also which is the cheapest place for us to 
go to for furniture ; perhaps he will offer to drive us some- 
where — he has two horses,” said Lottie, who had now quite 
recovered her usual spirits. 

“ If he offers to come and see us shall I bring him 
over ? ” 

“ Certainly. I won’t go out till you come back, and then 
I must go and buy a little china and glass, and a few 
kitchen things, in the town,” said Lottie as Jack started. 


LOTTIE'S RIVAL. 


She was acting up to her creed ; she was utilizing these 
untoward circumstances as means to her end ; her end, as 
she owned, was marriage with Mr. Barrett, and she was 
quick to see that this domestic catastrophe might and 
probably would precipitate their intimacy with their landlord. 

“ It is an ill wind that blows no good,” and if the same 
wind that blew their furniture to the bottom of the sea also 
blew Mr. Barrett into The Cottage as a friend in need, why, 
it would not be such an ill wind after all. It had changed 
her tactics somewhat, but perhaps the fresh tack might 
bring her into the harbor sooner than the old. 

One good must result from it, Lottie reflected : it could 
not fail to give her an insight into Mr. Barrett’s character; 
at present she knew absolutely nothing about him, except 
that he was rich, unmarried, and apparently held a very 
good position in the neighborhood, and seemed to be well 
known and respected in the town. 

But now she had given him the opportunity of helping 
them in their difficulty if he were so disposed, she would 
learn whether he was kind hearted and generous or mean 
and selfish ; she could learn more of the man’s nature in 
the next few hours than three months of ordinary inter- 
course could teach her. 

So while Mrs. Vaughan and Lily sat counting up all their 
lost possessions, and greeting each freshly remembered 
article with a new lamentation, Lottie sat by the window 
watching eagerly for Jack’s return, and making a list of 
things which were immediately necessary, and wondering 
what response Mr. Barrett would make to her appeal. 


CHAPTER 11. 

Lottie’s rival. 

About half a mile from the house the Vaughans had 
just taken, stood what Lottie considered an ideal cottage, 
called The Dell. It was really and truly a cottage, with a 
thatched roof and dormer windows in the gables, latticed 
windows downstairs, and a rustic porch covered in summer 
with roses. 


LOTTIE'S WOOINC. 


l6 


It was small, but it was a most compact little house, and 
stood in a large garden which opened into a tiny paddock, 
devoted to Miss Savage’s fowls. The only drawback to 
The Dell was the approach, which was by a narrow and 
rather steep lane not wide enough for two carriages to pass ; 
but The Dell had two gates, so you could drive in at one 
and out at the other, and thus avoid turning round. 

In this ideal cottage, which also belonged to Mr. Barrett, 
lived a maiden lady named Savage. She had now been five 
years at The Dell ; during the first three years her father 
lived with her, but for the last two years she had been alone, 
and it was a subject of much curiosity and speculation in 
Workwell as to what had become of the father. 

All that was actually known was that about two years 
ago he had had a great disappointment, followed by a 
mysterious illness. The disappointment was not of a senti- 
mental nature ; on the contrary, it was most prosaic ; it 
referred to his profession, not to his affections. 

He was an architect of the Gothic school, a beautiful 
draughtsman, and devoted to his art, for which he had talent 
which almost amounted to genius ; he was original, and was 
apt to sacrifice utility to beauty when it was difficult to com- 
bine the two. It was this tendency which brought about 
the disappointment alluded to above. 

He, among other architects, had sent in designs for a 
townhall in a neighboring city, and Mr. Savage’s design, 
though by far the most beautiful, was declined in favor of 
one in the renaissance style. Shortly after this he dis- 
appeared from Workwell, and he had not been heard of 
since. 

His daughter, who was passionately attached to him, 
always answered vaguely that he was in London when 
questioned on the subject ; but very few people had the 
courage to approach Miss Savage on what was evidently an 
unpleasant topic. 

It was presumed she went to see him, for she went up to 
London every two months for a day or two, but she never 
spoke of him on her return, and changed the conversation if 
other people did. Since the disappearance from Workwell 
of Mr. Savage, Miss Savage had reduced her establishment 
to one servant and a boy : a scrub and a grub, she was 


LOTTIE'S RIVAL. 


17 


wont to call them ; she had sold her pony, and she lived 
very economically. 

Some malicious tongues suggested that Mr. Savage had 
gone to the bad altogether ; but there was no foundation for 
such a report, unless the sad expression sometimes surprised 
on Miss Savage’s face was sufficient scaffolding to support 
such a theory. 

One person, and one person only, besides herself, knew 
what had become of her father, and that person was her 
friend and landlord, Mr. Barrett ; but the secret, she knew, 
was as safe in his keeping as with the dead. 

This friendship between Miss Savage and Mr. Barrett was 
another subject which greatly exercised the minds and 
tongues of the local gossips ; some maintained they were 
engaged to be married, others were sure she had refused him 
over and over again, others knew for a fact he had never 
proposed to her. 

The truth was no one knew anything about it, and cer- 
tainly neither Mr. Barrett nor Miss Savage were likely to 
enlighten their neighbors on so very private a matter. 
One fact was indisputable : they were very great friends. 

Miss Savage’s age was another mystery in connection with 
her which the Workwell people tried in vain to solve. It 
was not easy to guess it even approximately, for while her 
hair was snow-white her complexion was still fresh, and her 
figure girlish ; she was probably about forty, but she might 
have been much less. She was handsome ; she had dark eyes 
and eyebrows, an aquiline nose, and beautiful teeth, and a 
sweet but sad expression ; she was tall and slight ; alto- 
gether she was an aristocratic looking woman, who excited 
interest wherever she went. 

Two letters awaited her when she came down to break- 
fast on the morning of the Vaughans’ arrival at The Cot- 
tage ; she broke the seal of one eagerly and anxiously ; but 
as she read her whole face changed, an expression of radiant 
joy chased away the sadness, as the sun breaking through 
the clouds dispels them. 

Joy loses half its sweetness unless it can be shared, and 
her first impulse was to share with some person, or, failing 
a person, some thing, this joy which overwhelmed her and 


LOTTIE’S tVOO/JVO. 


i8 

the bell for Martha, the scrub, to bring in the breakfast, 
and as she did so a soft, wet, black nose was thrust against 
her hand, and the mute, appealing eyes of a dachshund 
begged to be told what had happened. 

“Yes, Roy, he is coming back. Master’s coming home 
at last, dear dog. Martha, your master is coming home 
to-morrow.” 

Roy wagged his tail, and Martha said : “ Oh, indeed, 
ma’am ! ” and Miss Savage sat down to play with her 
breakfast, feeling that joy such as hers was incommunicable, 
at least to her immediate circle. 

The grub showed rather more sympathy than the scrub 
at the news; if the master came back the pony would’ 
probably come back, and he would have stable work, which 
he loved, instead of gardening, which he hated. The 
immediate benefit he derived from the news was, he was 
sent with a letter from his mistress to Mr. Barrett, which 
gave him an excellent opportunity of wasting half his 
morning in going and returning, so he was undeniably 
much pleased. The letter informed Mr. Barrett of the 
expected return of Mr. Savage, and further told him 
that Miss Savage was going to London and back the fol- 
lowing day ; and the grub brought back a verbal message 
to the effect that Mr. Barrett would call at three that after- 
noon. 

At three Mr. Barrett arrived, and found Miss Savage 
eagerly expecting him. 

“ I am so glad you have come. Isn’t it splendid news? ” 
she said as she welcomed her visitor. 

“ It is indeed. You mean to go to-morrow, I suppose, 
to fetch him ?” 

“ Oh, yes ! I would have gone to-day if it had been pos- 
sible. I scarcely know how to wait. See, the letter says 
at once,” said Miss Savage, handing her friend the letter 
which had changed her whole life for her. 

It was from the medical superintendent of a large lunatic 
asylum, informing her that her father was now sufficiently 
recovered to return home, and she was at liberty to remove 
him at once. 

This was the mystery which had so disturbed the Work- 
well people ; Mr. Savage had been in an asylum all this 


LOTTIE'S RIVAL. 


^9 


time ; the disappointment following a period of suspense 
and overwork had turned his brain and brought on an 
attack of mania. At first he was violent, but he had had no 
outbreak during the last twelve months, and was now consid- 
ered well enough to be under his daughter’s care. 

That the Workwell gossips would guess the truth as soon 
as they saw him Miss Savage was well aware ; that he would 
never earn another shilling she also knew ; but to have him 
with her again was her heart’s desire. What she had suffered 
during the last two years only those who have been through 
the same furnace can tell, for it is a furnace heated one seven 
times more than furnaces are wont to be heated. 

It will be like having him back from-the dead. I did 
not think it was possible to feel such joy on earth ; it is the 
greatest joy I have ever known,” said Miss Savage as a few 
tears rolled down her cheeks. 

Mr. Barrett did not reply immediately ; there was some- 
thing so pathetic in this woman speaking of taking her 
father out of an asylum as the greatest joy she had ever 
known that, strong man as he was, he felt a lump in his 
throat which prevented him from answering. 

“What train are you going by?” he asked presently. 

“ The eight o’clock ; we shall return by the three ; I shall 
just have time if I lunch at the station.” 

“ All right ; I’ll meet you at the station to-morrow morn- 
ing, and take the tickets and keep a place, so you need not 
hurry.” 

“ It is good of you,” said Miss Savage. 

“ You don’t suppose I should let you go alone to that 
place. Of course I am going with you, and coming back 
with you too ; we can meet accidentally at St. Pancras, if 
you think Savage would object ; but you are not going to 
travel alone with him.” 

“ Is it convenient to you to go to-morrow, though ? I 
could wait a day.” 

“ I’ll make it convenient,” said Mr. Barrett, who had just 
sent word by Jack Vaughan to Lottie that he had a most 
important meeting to attend that next day which prevented 
his driving her to Chesterfield. 

“ By the way, I am going to ask a great favor of you. 
My new tenants are in great trouble ; they have lost all their 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


furniture, and there they are in an empty house. I gather 
they are not well off, and they have just sent to ask me if I 
know anyone who would give Mrs. Vaughan and one daugh- 
ter a bed for to-night. Could you manage it ?” 

“ With pleasure. I am afraid I can only offer to put them 
up for one night, because of father.” 

“ Certainly not ; they must make some other arrangement 
for to-morrow. Thank you very much ; I thought I might 
venture to ask you. Miss Vaughan seems a very capable 
young lady ; I dare say she’ll have rigged up some beds 
by to-morrow night. I am going to send her and her brother 
to Chesterfield in my dogcart to buy furniture to-morrow. 
It seems they have lost everything ; the boat went down with 
the furniture on board ; fortunately they were not in the 
same vessel.” 

“ I suppose I ought to call. AVho are they ?” said Miss 
Savage, who, as Mr. Barrett knew, was exceedingly partic- 
ular about whom she called upon. 

“ The father was a naval officer ; the son is a gentlemanly 
boy studying for the army ; the mother I have not seen. 
Miss Vaughan is a clever young lady, quite up to date, very 
lively, and has evidently seen a good deal of the world ; 
there is a younger girl, and they have been living in Jersey. 
That is all I know of them, except that I have just heard of 
this catastrophe in which I feel bound to help them.” 

“ Poor things, I will call this afternoon.” 

Thanks. I am going too, so I will wait for you and 
introduce you.” 

So it came to pass that Miss Savage, who in the ordinary 
course of things would not have called on these newcomers 
for at least three months, called the very day of their 
arrival, which, as Miss Lottie soon discovered, was in its way 
a social triumph, for Mi.ss Savage only visited the best 
people in the neighborhood, and probably would never 
have visited Mrs. Vaughan at all had she known what she 
was like. 

Mr. Barrett experienced a shock when Lottie presented 
him to her mother, and regretted his rashness in bringing 
Miss Savage with him. Her quick woman’s wit, however, 
took the situation in at a glance ; she divined at once 
Captain Vaughan had married beneath him, and she sympa- 


LOTTIE'S RIVAL. 

thized with the children, who evidently felt their mother's 
vulgarity acutely. 

Mrs. Vaughan was in full force, as her son was wont to 
put it, for Lottie was too much occupied in captivating Mr. 
Barrett to be able to screen her mother, who, accordingly, 
lamented the loss of her poor, dear husband’s portrait, and 
the epaulettes, and all her other goods and chattels, and 
dropped her h’s into the sea with the furniture. 

“ It is a terrible misfortune,” said Miss Savage, who was 
famed among her friends for her gift of sympathy. 

“It is indeed ; my poor children will feel it more than I 
shall, for they are all so very high. They take after their 
poor father — he was high, and Lottie especially has very 
high notions,” said Mrs. Vaughan, lowering her voice confi- 
dentially. 

Lily here created a diversion by bemoaning the loss of 
the grandfather clock with a moon in its face which waxed 
and waned with the real moon ; while Lottie sat talking to 
Mr. Barrett about Chesterfield, turning her diamond ring 
round and round as she did so, and mentally wondering if 
there was anything of a tender nature between Mr. Barrett 
and Miss Savage. 

“ Who do you sit under here, Miss Savage ? ” asked Mrs. 
Vaughan when there was a momentary pause in the conver- 
sation. 

“ I beg your pardon,” said Miss Savage, failing to grasp 
the meaning of this idiom. 

“ Who do you sit under ? ” persisted Mrs. Vaughan. 

“ Mother means, what church do you go to ? ” explained 
Lily. 

“ Oh ! the parish church ; there is only one church in 
Workwell. You will like the rector very much, he is such 
a nice man. I am sure if he knew of your misfortune he 
would do all in his power to help you.” 

“ Oh ! thanks, I think we shall manage now. I have just 
been telling Mr. Barrett he is being so kind, he makes me 
think our trouble may, after all, be a blessing in disguise,” 
interrupted Lottie as Mr. Barrett rose to leave. 

He was a fair man, rather under the average height, with 
broad shoulders and an inclination to be too stout, which 
he kept down by exercise ; he had a short-clipped yellow 


22 


LOTTIES WOOINC. 


beard, a florid complexion, blue eyes, rather a loud voice, 
and a “hail-fellow well met” manner which won him much 
popularity. 

Like other persons with the same hearty manner, George 
Barrett was in reality a very reserved man after a certain 
point ; many people soon reached this degree of intimacy 
with him, very few got beyond it. 

So Miss Lottie Vaughan, shrewd as she was, was a little 
premature in thinking her misfortune had broken down all 
the conventional barriers which necessarily exist between 
new acquaintances, and had cleared the path to the citadel 
of Mr. Barrett’s heart. It had done this much, it'had placed 
her on the same terms with him in a few hours that half 
the people he had known for years were on ; but it had 
only accelerated those terms, which in the ordinary course 
of events she would have arrived at in about three months. 

“ There goes my rival,” said Lottie to Lily as Miss 
Savage disappeared through the wooden doors, after having 
invited the whole family to a high tea at seven. 

“ She is charming, and isn’t she handsome, Lottie ?” 

“ She is both, my dear child ; she is an item I had 
omitted from my little calculations, and a very consider- 
able one too ; however, I have youth on my side, and — and, 
well, something else, but I don’t quite know what to call it. 
We shall see, but I think I’ll make a friend of Miss 
Savage ; and now for some pots and pans,” said Lottie, 
whose practical nature allowed her to pass from romance 
to reality, from the contemplation of winning Mr. Barrett’s 
affections to the purchasing of kettles and saucepans, with 
ease and celerity. 


CHAPTER III. 

A DANGEROUS NEIGHBOR. 

The next morning Miss Savage was on her way to 
London before Lily and Mrs. Vaughan were up. As she 
passed The Cottage, Lottie and Jack were in the act of 
starting for Chesterfield in Mr. Barrett’s dogcart ; they 
offered her a lift to the station, which she accepted. 


A DANGEROUS NEIGHBOR. 


23 


Jack took her on the platform, and there discovered that 
Mr. Barrett, instead of attending the meeting he had 
mentioned, was going to London with her ; which fact he 
communicated to Lottie when he rejoined her, with the 
comment, “ Barrett evidently meant business.” 

The news did not tend to raise Lottie’s spirits, which 
were not at their usual high level that morning. 

CharJotte, you are not in form to-day; why this silence ? ” 
said Jack, who was driving. 

“ My dear boy, three facts only are present to my mind 
to-day, none of them worth communicating : fact number 
one, a portmanteau is not the softest bed I have ever slept 
on ; fact number two, a diamond ring is an article I prefer 
to have on my finger, rather than at the pawnbroker’s ; fact 
number three. Miss Savage is a remarkably handsome 
woman.” 

“That’s so,” said Jack with an American twang he was 
fond of imitating, reflecting that the loss of the furniture 
was enough to subdue even Lottie’s spirits, but failing to 
see any connection between that depression and Miss 
Savage’s beauty. 

Meanwhile the real cause of her silence was comfortably 
ensconced in the corner of a first-class carriage, with Mr. 
Barrett facing her at the opposite end, engaged in discuss- 
ing the Vaughans. 

“ Mrs. Willoughby would pronounce the mother quite 
impossible, but the children seem really nice, and for their 
sakes I shall try and induce the Willoughbys to call,” said 
Miss Savage. 

The Willoughbys were a family living in the neighboring 
parish, and if they called on the Vaughans everyone who 
was anyone would do the same, and Miss Lottie’s social 
position would be assured, as that young woman had 
already discovered from Miss Savage. 

“ Poor things, they are very badly off, I find, and could 
ill afford such a loss,” she continued. 

“I suppose the furniture is actually lost,” said Mr. 
Barrett dubiously. 

“ What do you mean ? ” 

“ Only that Miss Vaughan strikes me as quite clever 
enough to have sold the furniture in Jersey to pay the bills.” 


24 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


“ How horribly uncharitable of you. I never heard you 
say such an unkind thing of anyone before. Have you 
taken a dislike to Miss Lottie ?” 

“ On the contrary, I admire her exceedingly. She is a 
very 'cute young woman. But you are quite right ; I was 
uncharitable. I see here an account of the wreck in this 
paper. A few things have been washed up on the French 
coast, so they may get some salvage, after all. I really beg 
Miss Lottie’s pardon for my rash judgment.” 

“I wonder what put such an idea into your head ; men 
are generally such good judges of the characters of 
women.” 

“ I can’t say. She strikes me as a very dangerous young 
lady ; why, I don’t know ; but, as I said before, I admire her 
exceedingly, and the little girl is charmingly pretty. On 
the whole, I think my new tenants will be an acquisition to 
the neighborhood, in spite of Mrs. Vaughan’s vulgarity.” 

“ I think so too,” said Miss Savage, and there the conver- 
sation dropped. 

Mr. Barrett read his paper, and Miss Savage sat lost in 
thought for the next hour ; they were too intimate to feel 
obliged to talk unless inclined fot conversation. 

Presently he put down his paper, and, glancing toward his 
companion, saw her eyes were filled with tears ; he watched 
her silently for some minutes, thinking deeply himself the 
while. She was, as Lottie said, very handsome ; indeed 
just now a benediction of love rested on her face and con- 
secrated her physical beauty, and made her irresistible to 
George Barrett. He moved opposite to her, and, bending 
forward, said : 

“ You are very happy ? ” 

“ Intensely. At the same time I feel it is a heavy respon- 
sibility I am undertaking.” 

“ I know that. It is too heavy for you ; will you let me 
share it with you ? ” 

She looked at him inquiringly ; she was not sure of his 
meaning. 

“ Don’t you understand me, Marion?” 

She began to understand now he called her by her Chris- 
tian name, and the red blood rushed into her cheeks as she 
listened. 


A DANGEROUS NEIGHBOR. 


25 


“ I mean, will you give me the right to share all your joys 
and sorrows? Will you be my wife ?” 

He caught hold of her hands as he spoke and gazed 
earnestly at her. 

She looked calmly at the honest face before her, and read 
respect, affection, pity, if not passionate love, in the blue 
eyes ; and then she answered gently but decidedly : 

“No, George. From my heart I thank you, but I shall 
never marry. My life will henceforth be devoted to father. 
There are some burdens we must bear alone, some trials 
which no one can share : this is one. But you will always 
be my dearest friend, won’t you ? One of the advantages 
of middle age is that such friendships are possible between 
men and women.” 

“Yes,” he said after a pause, “yes, I shall always be 
your friend, and you will always be the noblest and sweetest 
woman in the world for me,” and with that he reached for- 
ward and kissed her, and then, with a sigh, moved back to 
his own corner. 

When next he spoke it was to ask how long they could 
allow themselves for luncheon at St. Pancras, and neither 
of them betrayed any sign of what had passed bet ween them. 

He was the more moved of the two by what had occurred, 
for it was no sudden thought of his ; he had been making up 
his mind for a long time to ask her to be his wife. He hated 
the idea of her living alone with her poor, mad father ; he 
thought it waste of a woman’s life, and such a woman’s too. 
He knew she would devote herself entirely to her father, but 
she was a woman with a great capacity for loving, and with 
an inexhaustible fund of sympathy ; there would have been 
abundance of both for him as well as for Will Savage. 

In age they were well suited — he was a few years the elder, 
and in every other way they were well adapted to each other ; 
but she had refused him, and the train rattled on past field 
and town, through flat and, for the most part, uninteresting 
country, and the day was cold and gray, and' the sky was 
leaden and heavy, and the wind was in the east, and George 
Barrett felt it was an ugly world and life monotonous, and 
everything under the sun “vanity and vexation of spirit.” 

Marion Savage looked out at the same scene, but with 
what different eyes ; she saw “the light that never was on 


26 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


land or sea” glimmering on this hill ; a soft radiance 
wrapping that village under yon combe in a glow of pro- 
tecting love ; smiling reflections of stern, leafless trees in the 
river that crossed and recrossed their path ; breaks of light 
in the heavy clouds ; smiles in the leaden sky and on the 
hills; and she thought the world was beautiful and rich and 
full and glorious. 

After all, beauty is to a certain extent subjective, and the 
world very much what we like to make it. 

It was no doubt sweet to Marion Savage to reflect that 
this good man, honest, true, as she knew him to be, loved 
her ; for she was a true woman, whose natural environment 
is love. She was romantic and had her ideal of a perfect 
man, but George Barrett was not that ideal ; she liked him 
exceedingly, she respected him, nay, she had a great regard 
and affection for him, but love in the ordinary sense of the 
word she could never feel for him. 

She did not feel the need of a husband’s love ; the need 
she, in common with all good women, felt of some object to 
whom to sacrifice her life, to whom to offer herself as a 
holocaust, to whom to pour out libations of love and sym- 
pathy, was supplied by her father. That another man 
should recognize and appreciate the sacrifice she was making 
and should add love to his appreciation was very sweet to 
her ; indeed there was a touch of selfishness in the pleasure 
she took in thinking of his love. She was not so perfect as 
George Barrett thought. 

We are none of us so good or so bad as we get the credit 
of being. 

It was past one by the time they finished luncheon at St. 
Pancras, and then they took a hansom and drove to the 
asylum. 

It was a great, gloomy, prison-like building in a dull and 
dreary part of London, and Mr. Barrett never went there 
without feeling depressed for the rest of the day, 

“ I hope this is our last visit to this useful, but melancholy 
institution,” he said as he helped Miss Savage out of the 
cab, and then told the man to wait. 

“ I hope so indeed. Dear dad, what a state of excite- 
ment he is in, I expect; but we are in excellent time, it is 
barely two o’clock,” 


A DANGEROUS NEIGHBOR, 


27 


“ Now, we had better not let him see me. I’ll wait in the 
doctor’s room, and when you start with him I will follow in 
my hansom. We will send for an attendant to take you up 
to him,” said Mr. Barrett as a porter came forward to ask 
what they wanted. 

After a little delay a man with a large bunch of keys in 
his hand came to Miss Savage and told her her father was 
expecting her, and would be ready to start in a few minutes 
if she would go up to the ward he was in. Accordingly 
she disappeared up a gloomy stone staircase with the 
attendant, while Mr. Barrett was shown into the doctor’s 
room. 

“ How is Savage ? Is there any material improvement 
since I was last here? ” he asked the doctor. 

“ He is as well as he ever will be, as far as I can judge ; 
but he is as mad as a hatter — quite harmless now, though, 
so there is no need to keep him here. The only thing that 
excites him is the sight of any building in course of 
erection, but as he will see less of that in the country prob- 
ably he will be better there than here.” 

“ What happens if he sees any building ? ” asked Barrett. 

“ He gets excited, raves, and if he had the opportunity 
he would set fire to it as sure as a gun.” 

Mr. Barrett whistled a low whistle. 

“ His chief delusion is that the world, and this country 
in particular, are being built over to such an extent that if 
there is not a stop put to it there will be no land left for 
cultivation, consequently the human race will die of star- 
vation. He spends most of his time in making elaborate 
calculations as to how long the world will last if the pres- 
ent rate of building continues.” 

“ Poor fellow ! Does he talk of it much ? ” 

“ Talks of nothing else sometimes for days together ; 
sometimes he is better and will read and talk as rationally 
as you or I, and then he is a delightful companion, very 
well read and with artistic tastes.” 

“ Yes, I know ; he was very clever in his profession and 
a cultivated man.” 

“ He will be better in the country, I hope. It is not very 
thickly populated round Workwell, is it ? Isn’t it rather 
wild country ? ” 


28 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


“ Yes ; except the house I am now building for myself I 
don’t know of one of any importance being built in the 
immediate neighborhood.” 

“ Well, keep Savage out of yours, or I won’t answer for 
the consequences. That is his one dangerous point, and if 
he is watched there is not really much danger, for 1 don’t 
suppose he will ever venture out alone even if he were 
allowed to do so ; still I should not trust him in a newly 
built house or a partly built house alone.” 

“ Miss Savage knows this, I suppose ? ” said Barrett. 

“ Oh, yes ! I should like to see her for a moment, though. 
I hear them in the corridor ; will you excuse me ? ” and Mr. 
Barrett was left alone for a few minutes to muse upon the 
chances his new house stood of being either finished or 
burnt to the ground. 

“ I suppose there is not really much risk to be feared or 
they would not discharge him ; still it is an awkward taste 
in a neighbor and the father of my dearest friend. Poor 
Marion ! What a life hers is. However, we are all mad on 
one point ; ‘ it is a mad world, my masters,’ as Shakspere 
said.” 

Ten minutes after he was following Miss Savage and her 
father to the station. Once or twice his cab passed theirs 
and he caught a glimpse of them ; Marion’s face was radi- 
ant with joy and Savage’s beaming with delight. 

Mr. Savage was rather a tall man, who looked taller than 
he really was because he was so thin ; he had quite white 
hair, like his daughter, but his mustache and beard were 
grizzly gray ; his complexion was fresh and his features 
good, and except for a very restless look in his brown eyes, 
a timid, nervous manner, and a habit of talking incessantly 
you would not have known there was anything the matter 
with him until you got him on to his favorite topic. 

He appeared to be in exuberant spirits, and when they 
got to the station Barrett saw he held his daughter’s hand 
tightly in his, while she for her part seemed so absorbed in 
her father as to have forgotten her friend’s existence. 

He dared not accost them ; they seemed to be moving on 
a higher plane of existence ; he dared not tread on such 
holy ground ; such joy as this was too sacred to intrude 
upon ; they were evidently oblivious of everyone but each 


A DANGEROUS NEIGHBOR. 


29 


Other, of everything except the fact that he was at last 
going home. 

The ecstatic delight, and proud, pleased manner with 
which Mr. Savage took Marion’s purse and paid for his 
ticket was far greater than that of any schoolboy going 
home for the first time in his life for the holidays. 

They were both in too high a heaven to give a thought 
to such sublunary considerations as luggage, and but for 
Barrett, Mr. Savage’s portmanteau would have been left on 
the platform. 

“ 1 won’t travel with them ; they are all right, and they 
would far rather be alone,” he thought. So he watched 
them get into a first-class carriage by themselves, and sit 
down side by side like two lovers, and then he got into the 
next carriage and consoled himself with a pipe. 

Every time the train stopped, which was not often, he got 
out and looked at them, but not until they reached Work- 
well did they see him, and then Mr. ^Savage concluded he 
had come to meet them, and thanked him for doing so. 

Father, you can never thank Mr. Barrett enough for all 
he has been to me in your absence,” said Miss Savage, her 
conscience perhaps accusing her of selfishness in letting Mr. 
Barrett travel alone. 

“ Perhaps some day I may be able to repay you, Barrett,” 
said Mr. Savage. 

Barrett thought of his house and his friend’s little idio- 
syncrasy, and answered : 

“ Thanks, old fellow, never mind me ; take care of your- 
self.” 

Thus Mr. Savage returned to his home from the saddest 
of prison houses ; and George Barrett felt he could no 
more enter into the intense joy the father and daughter 
felt at being once more together than he could square the 
circle or discover the law of perpetual motion. 

All he could do was to hope that this joy also might not 
prove “ vanity and vexation of spirit.” 

And then, as he entered The Crown, he wondered for the 
first time that day how that dangerous young lady Miss 
Lottie Vaughan was faring at Chesterfield. 

Could he have known the honor that young woman 
intended to confer upon him his vague apprehensions as 


30 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


to the danger with which she was fraught would have 
taken more definite form ; and forewarned would have 
been forearmed. 

But that knowledge was, for the present at least, withheld 
from him. 


CHAPTER IV. 

LILY ENTERTAINS A VISITOR. 

There were considerable drawbacks attending Miss 
Savage’s reduced establishment ; one which annoyed her 
exceedingly was the scrub’s want of discernment in admit- 
ting visitors. 

She invariably showed the taxgatherer into the drawing 
room, and as invariably left strangers who were returning 
a first visit, and upon whom her mistress would like to 
make a favorable impression, in the hall. As for the con- 
ventional idiom “ Not at home,” nothing would induce her 
to utter it unless Miss Savage were actually not in the 
house. 

These little eccentricities on the part of the scrub would 
not be worthy of mention but for the fact that they were 
destined to affect materially, or, at any rate, to precipitate, 
the fate of two of the young people in this story. 

On the morning of the day Miss Savage went to London 
to fetch her father, Mr. Alexander Willoughby, having had 
a serious difference with his father, came to pour out his 
grievance into Miss Savage’s sympathetic ears. The scrub, 
for inscrutable reasons past finding out, instead of answer- 
ing his question, “ Is Miss Savage at home ? ” in the nega- 
tive, as on this occasion truth itself demanded, evaded the 
inquiry, and after the reputed manner of her sex answered 
with another question: “Will you come forward, sir?” 
The Derbyshire peasant never says “ come in,” but always 
“ come forward.” 

Mr. Willoughby come forward, and was received in the 
drawing room by Miss Lily Vaughan, who, having exhausted 
Miss Savage’s stock of dance-music, was at a loss how to 
spend the rest of the morning. 


LILY ENTERTAINS A VISITOR, 


31 


Mr. Alec Willoughby had recently celebrated his twenty- 
first birthday. He. was tall, dark, and decidedly handsome ; 
he was also decidedly a member of what the immortal 
Teufelsdrockh calls the Dandiacal body — in plain English, a 
dandy, and he was one of those happy men whom all women, 
old and young, rich and poor, find quite irresistible, although 
in what their particular power of charming lies, those of the 
stronger sex who do not possess it have never been able 
to discover. 

Men who are not endowed with this perilous gift are 
wont to deny that it has any objective existence at all ; it is 
merely dependent, they say, on the caprice of woman. But 
they are wrong. This particular grace is as real as faith 
itself ; in fact the apostolic definition of that theological 
virtue may very well be applied to it ; it is the substance of 
things hoped for, the proof of things unseen. 

What those things hoped for are, what those things 
unseen may be, women only know ; to them only have they 
been revealed. Suffice it to say Alec Willoughby was irre- 
sistible ; his mother and sister worshiped him, all the 
women servants in the house were willing to be his slaves, 
all the girls in the neighborhood were popularly supposed 
to be willing to marry him. Unfortunately, the law of the 
land prevented such wholesale polygamy ; he could not 
marry them all, he therefore contented himself with mak- 
ing love to them all. 

He went from flower to flower, sipping the sweetness of 
each as busily as a bee, as gayly as a butterfly. 

Among his other attractions he had a very good tenor 
voice, and he accompanied himself on the guitar or the 
banjo, according to the mood he was in, poetical or prosaic, 
tragic or comic. He danced perfectly, and he was a first- 
rate tennis player, and this, his father said, was about all he 
could do ; but this was rather severe of General Willoughby, 
for he had recently done rather more : he had just passed 
out of Sandhurst, and was waiting to be gazetted. 

All this Miss Lily Vaughan learned in the next half hour, 
and in return Mr. Alec was informed who Miss Savage’s 
charming guest was, where she came from, the fate of the 
furniture and the grandfather clock with the moon in it, 
where Lottie and Jack were that day, that Jack was work- 


32 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


ing for the preliminary examination for Sandhurst, that 
they possessed a very rich uncle who had a perfectly odious 
wife whom they all cordially hated, that he (Alec) and Lily 
had many tastes in common, notably dancing and tennis. 

Then Mr. Willoughby promised his mother and sister 
should call on the Vaughans as soon as they were settled, 
and begged to be allowed to do so himself the very next 
day ; he did not in the least mind the absence of chairs, 
on the contrary, he professed a predilection for Eastern 
customs and an empty house ; and by the time he had ex- 
torted permission to renew the acquaintance the clock struck 
one, and he awoke to the fact that he had been exactly an 
hour and a half at The Dell. 

Time had flashed away, and now he raced it back to 
Thornley to avoid committing the mortal sin of being late 
for luncheon ; to be late for dinner in General Willoughby’s 
house was to commit the sin for which there is no forgive- 
ness; and, on the present occasion, to be late for luncheon 
would be to court a repetition of the scene he had had with 
his father that morning. 

He left Lily, to whom he had confided the fact that he 
had had a row, wondering what it could have been about ; 
but it was many a long day before her curiosity on this 
point was satisfied, for the more he knew of her the less 
inclined he was to tell her. 

The truth lay in a nutshell : 

Mr. Alec Willoughby had been making love to Miss 
Kitty Arundel, his father’s ward, and the general had 
utterly refused to sanction anything of the kind ; nay, had 
announced his intention of putting a summary stop to the 
whole affair at once and forever ; hence the row. 

The general had spent most of his life in India, and the 
climate had affected two very important parts of his com- 
position, his liver and his temper. He was a little man with 
a very red face, very black hair, and a huge black mus- 
tache, which gave him a very fierce expression ; he had a 
very loud voice, which frequently uttered very naughty 
words ; he was irritable and hasty at all times ; but if 
thwarted he was violent, he lost all control of himself, swore 
like a trooper, and indeed was scarcely responsible for his 
actions. 


LILY ENTERTAINS A VISITOR. 


33 


The storm on such occasions was soon spent, and though 
too proud to acknowledge he had been wrong, he never 
rested till he made some amends after one of these out- 
bursts. 

He was an energetic little man, passionately fond of 
shooting and hunting; a keen sportsman, who had killed his 
lions, and tigers, and big game in India, and yet thoroughly 
enjoyed fox-hunting or partridge shooting in England. He 
took a keen interest in politics and in local affairs ; he was 
a lenient magistrate, though he ruled his own household 
with a rod of iron ; in fact he was very inconsistent and 
full of contradictions ; his best friends could never guess 
how he would act on a given occasion, and having a sense 
of humor he delighted in surprising people. He was, on 
fhe whole, a popular man both at home and abroad, and 
certainly was far better served by his domestics than his 
better tempered neighbors. His cook, to whom he was a 
lesser Providence who occasionally sent her out half a sov- 
ereign when the curry was extra good, and frequently a 
curse when the fish was over-cooked or the soup was not 
hot enough, lived in wholesome dread of him, but secretly 
considered it a privilege to cook for a master who had such 
a keen appreciation of her talents. 

Mrs. Willoughby was a striking contrast to her husband; 
she was tall, and stout, and fair ; a woman who had been 
a beauty and could not forget it, though not much now 
remained to remind others of the fact. 

She was as indolent as the general was energetic, and 
spent a great deal of time on the sofa, posing as very deli- 
cate, though in reality few women enjoy such excellent 
health as Mrs. Willoughby did. 

She was afraid of her husband, or it suited her to pretend 
to be so, for “ Be what you seem to be,” was not her motto 
nor her practice ; and in her indolent way she took a great 
deal of trouble to prevent his temper from being ruffled ; 
at the same time she usually succeeded in getting her own 
way, even when that way was opposed to the general’s 
ideas. 

She had a great deal of what is called presence, and a 
grand manner, with- which she overawed some meeker 
spirits ; and being dist-antly related to the duke who owned 


34 


LOTTIE^ S WOOING. 


the shooting box in which they lived, she held herself very 
much aloof from local society, in which she visited very 
little. The neighborhood, she was wont to say, was not a 
good one ; all the land and estates were owned by the two 
dukes ; there were no county people living near, conse- 
quently there was no one to visit ; one duke never came to 
the neighborhood ; with the other the Willoughbys dined 
once a year, and occasionally went to a ball or a garden 
party at his castle. 

Consequently, with the exception of Alec, who went 
wherever he was asked, the Willoughbys went out very 
little, and Virginia Willoughby, the only daughter, was 
brought up to consider her neighbors very much beneath 
her social level. 

Proud by nature, she required no teaching to hold her 
queenly head high ; but her pride was of a higher order 
than her mother’s, and based on a more solid foundation. 
Pride of birth was common to them both, but while Mrs. 
Willoughby based her superiority to her neighbors on her 
blue blood and her ducal relation, Virginia added intel- 
lectual pride to her pride of birth, and scorned the gener- 
ality of people for their frivolity and foolishness, their want 
of originality and culture. 

She cared little for general society ; she was fond of 
study and of outdoor pursuits, riding and driving and walk- 
ing ; could she have pleased herself, she would have liked 
to travel six months out of the twelve, for she was of a rest- 
less disposition. 

She was very handsome, but her haughty bearing and 
scornful manners had hitherto kept all admirers at bay ; 
while her reputation for being very clever made men rather 
shy of her ; they admired her, she was eminently a man’s 
beauty. Women wondered in their own sweet way what men 
saw in her, men kept their own counsel and their distance. 

She was tall, and moved with queenly dignity; her features 
were perhaps rather hard, but they were beautifully molded ; 
she was a brunette, with dark eyes and hair, and a clear 
olive complexion ; she was generally rather pale, but her 
color came and went and added a varying charm to her 
beauty. 

Virginia was a year or two older than her brother, and 


LILY ENTERTAIlStS A VISITOR. 


35 


they were the general’s only children ; he had, however, a 
ward who lived with them, the only child of a brother officer, 
who was as a daughter to the general and Mrs. Willoughby, 
and like a sister to Virginia, whom Kitty regarded as a sort 
of goddess, to be worshiped and adored. 

Her relations to Alec were not so simple, hence the dif- 
ference between the general and his son. 

Mi.ss Arundel was an heiress, and Mr. Alec had nothing 
but what his father chose to allow him, therefore it had 
seemed to Mrs. Willoughby that no better provision could 
be made for Kitty and Alec than for them to marry and 
live happy ever after. 

Kitty was quite willing to fall into this arrangement ; 
she was a little thing, short and plump, soft, gentle, impres- 
sionable, and fell an easy prey to Mr. Alec’s fascinations, 
for, like other women, she found him irresistible. 

She was rather pretty ; she had wavy auburn hair, and 
that thick white skin which often goes with it ; her hair was 
her great beauty, it was very long and luxuriant, and grew 
prettily on her temples ; her great soft eyes matched the 
color of her hair ; she was very pale, and in spite of her very 
red lips, usually considered a sign of health, she was not 
strong. 

She had lived with the Willoughbys ever since she could 
remember ; her parents died when she was a baby, and she 
came to the Willoughbys soon after, accompanied by her 
nurse who still lived with her as her maid. Sanders, the 
nurse, had done her best to spoil her charge, but Kitty 
was too sweet to develop into what Derbyshire people call 
a “ marred child.” 

She was the only person in the house who was not afraid 
of General Willoughby, whom she always called Rajah, and 
the only person with whom he had never been known to 
lose his temper ; he treated her as a favorite daughter, and 
Virginia, if she had not been too proud to be jealous, would 
have had some cause to complain that he loved his ward 
better than his daughter. 

He had never denied Kitty anything in his life, and 
when Alec came to tell her that his father utterly refused 
to sanction any engagement between them, she could 
scarcely believe it. 


36 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


“ It is true, and what is more, you and Vi are to be sent 
away somewhere to-morrow, and there is to be no com- 
munication of any sort between you and me,” said Alec. 

“ O Alec, it will kill me,” moaned Kitty. 

Alec privately did not think it would have the same effect 
on him, though it was no doubt very rough on both of them, 
particularly Kitty, who was such a frail little thing ; so he 
bent his handsome face down to hers, and wrapped his 
arms round her, and whispered : 

No, darling, you must not let it kill you. For my sake 
you must try and bear it.” 

This was such an irresistible argument in favor of sub- 
mission that Kitty meekly assented. 

“ It is only for a year, then we can please ourselves,” 
urged Alec. 

“ But are we not to meet for a whole year, Alec ? ” 

“ Not with his knowledge ; perhaps we can manage to do 
so without it ; mother will help us.” 

“ Vi won’t ; she would never deceive the Rajah or any- 
one else.” 

“ No, but she would never tell if she found us out.” 

“ Why does Rajah object ? ” 

‘‘He says I am not half good enough for you; it is my 
opinion he would not think an angel from heaven was, and 
he is right.” 

“ Rajah is silly about me. Do you think, if I were to go 
and try, I could persuade him to consent ?” 

“I am afraid not ; even you will, I fear, fail to persuade 
him I am worth a second thought.” 

Then there were more protestations on both sides of love 
and eternal fidelity, before which the vows of all other 
lovers paled into insignificance, and then Mr. Alec went 
and paid that memorable visit to The Dell, and Kitty went 
to beard the Rajah in his den. 

This den was a sort of temple sacred to sport ; it was 
carpeted with tiger and leopard skins ; the walls were 
covered with cases of stuffed birds and heads of buffaloes 
and stags ; an odd collection of assegais, daggers, swords, 
and spears hung over the chimney-piece, and here the 
general kept his guns and whips. 

The general was writing a letter when Kitty knocked at 


LILY ENTERTAINS A VISITOR. 


37 


the door, and she saw at a glance his fit of temper had sub- 
sided, so it was a favorable moment in which to approach 
him. 

“ Rajah, dear, may I speak to you ? ” she asked. 

“Yes, my pet, what is it?” said the general as Kitty 
seated herself on his knee and put one arm round his neck. 

“ Rajah, why won’t you let me marry Alec ? ” she whis- 
pered. 

The general hesitated ; he could not tell her the real 
reason, which was he did not believe Alec cared any more 
for her than he did for every other girl he had met ; 
but he had amused himself with making love to her because 
he had nothing else to do, led on by his mother, who thought 
Kitty’s fortune might as well be Alec’s also. 

“ Rajah, you have never refused me anything ; you have 
always been so kind to me. Don’t be cruel now.” 

“ I should be cruel if I sanctioned such folly as this. 
No, Kitty, no; never with my consent shall you marry my 
son ; if ever you do so it will be in defiance of my wishes ; 
I love you too well to consent to any such thing.” 

Kitty threw her arms round his neck, and sobbed pitifully, 
but the general went on inexorably : 

“ Let us understand each other. I not only refuse to 
sanction any engagement between you and Alec, but I 
forbid you to hold any communication with each other 
until you are of age ; then I can no longer insist on obedi- 
ence : I can only advise. I have made arrangements for 
you and Vi to go away to-morrow for a month to London ; 
by the end of that time Alec will, I hope, have got his com- 
mission,^ and joined his regiment. Now run away to Vi ; 
she has sense enough to know I am right ; and remember, 
if Alec disobeys me in this matter. I’ll stop his allowance 
there. and then.” 

Kitty, still sobbing, rose from her seat on the general’s 
knee, and he with his arm round her neck led her to the door. 

“ Poor little Kitty, some day you’ll thank me for saving 
you from what I am as certain would be a miserable mar- 
riage as I am certain I shot that tiger,” and with that he 
kissed her, and, telling her to go to Virginia, returned to his 
den, while Kitty went to find Mrs. Willoughby, whose sym- 
pathy in this matter she was more sure of than Virginia’s. 


38 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


Poor little Kitty ! Her grief was so poignant she 
believed herself the unhappiest creature on earth that 
March morning ; could anyone have told her she would 
live to look back on that day as happy compared to some 
which were to follow, she would have indignantly denied 
such a possibility. 

She found Mrs. Willoughby lying on a sofa, indolently 
looking through some accounts the cook had left with her. 
Mrs. Willoughby took a more cheerful view of the matter ; 
she represented to Kitty the visit to London would probably 
be most enjoyable, as Vi’s uncle, with whom they were 
going to stay, would take them to all the theaters and 
everything else which was going on ; and she promised to 
do her best to have the girls home before Alec left. 

“ It is always better, dear, to appear to yield to the gen- 
eral ; if you are only true to each other, you will end by 
persuading him to consent.” 

“ I shall never care for anyone but Alec, Ranee ; it will 
kill me if Rajah separates us forever — I know it will.” 

“ But he can’t separate you when you are of age, you 
silly child. Leave off crying and run and help Sanders to 
pack up. Just reach me another pillow, dear, first ; I have 
no backbone to-day.” This was a favorite complaint of 
Mrs. Willoughby’s, that she had no backbone ; it was quite 
true, but not in the sense she meant it. She had no moral 
backbone, but a physical backbone was the want she con- 
stantly lamented. 

“ I have no backbone, but you would be surprised at the 
amount I get through in the course of the day,” she often 
said. 

This again would have been true if she had meant food 
by the ambiguous word amount ; but she did not mean food, 
she meant work, and the amount of work which she did 
was fractional, 

Most of her sayings with regard to herself and her family 
required to be taken cum grano salis, for all her geese were 
swans. 

For instance, she frequently remarked that the general 
had no presence, but he was a very handsome man ; in 
reality he was remarkably plain. 

Virginia, she said, had no money, but then she had every- 


LOTTIE'S PROBLEM. 


39 


thing else — wit, beauty, and talent. Kitty was not a beauty 
— no woman, except Virginia and Mrs. Willoughby herself, 
was beautiful in her eyes — Kitty was not a beauty, but she 
was a most charming .ittle creature. 

And Alec was beautiful as a Greek god and a model of 
all the virtues ; but he was not very strong, she said. In 
reality Alec was a good-looking young man with a great 
many faults, and had never had a day’s serious illness in his 
life, and she meant him to marry Kitty. 


CHAPTER V. 

Lottie’s problem. 

The machinery in life is very complex in these latter 
days ; the environment to which cultured society corre- 
sponds is an environment of luxury and ease ; social death 
would ensue if that environment lost its aesthetic charm as 
surely as if the individual failed to correspond to it, that is, 
to live up to it, in modern English. 

Lottie Vaughan was well aware of this ; she also knew 
the world is apt to judge us by our surroundings, our 
clothes, and our furniture rather than by our words, our 
manners, and our actions. The problem she had to solve 
was to procure for fifty pounds such an environment for 
her family as would induce the members of Derbyshire 
society to admit them within its pale. 

It was a very hard problem, and Lottie came home tired 
out mentally and physically with her endeavors to solve it. 

“ Lottie, Mr. Willoughby has been to call,” was the greet- 
ing she received as she came in laden with parcels, and 
without her diamond ring. 

If an angel from heaven had been taking tea with her 
Lily could not have spoken with more rapture, and Lottie 
would probably have received the news with equal indiffer- 
ence. 

“ My dear Lily, have the beds come, and is there any- 
thing to eat ? ” 

The beds had come, also some chairs and a table for the 


40 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


dining room, and Mr. Barrett had sent in a pie from The 
Crown, so Jack and Lottie sat down to supper. 

“ Lottie, Mr. Willoughby is coming here to-morrow,” was 
Lily’s next remark. 

“ To-morrow ! My dear child, we shall be making fur- 
niture for the next three weeks.” 

“ Making furniture, Lottie ! Why, what do you mean ? 
Haven’t you bought it ?” asked Mrs. Vaughan. 

“All I could, mother, but fifty pounds does not go far 
when you have carpets and bedding and house linen as well 
as furniture to buy. We shall have to do without a great 
many things, unless Aunt Margaret rises to the occasion. 
Jack and I have composed a letter to her that ought to draw 
a check for five pounds.” 

“If we get five shillings out of her I shall be surprised, 
particularly as they are going to pay the piper for me at 
Sandhurst,” said Jack. 

“Mr. Willoughby has just left Sandhurst,” said Lily, but 
no one took any notice of this interesting fact. 

“What furniture are you going to make, Lottie ?” asked 
Mrs. Vaughan. 

“ My dear mother, ottomans, footstools, a box sofa, hang- 
ing wardrobes, coal boxes, bookcases, and anything else 
my genius suggests. We have bought up no end of old 
packing cases of all sorts and conditions, chintzes, paints, 
nails, pegs, stuffing, oak stain, and varnish, and to-morrow 
we must set to work in earnest.” 

“I wonder if Mr. Willoughby is a carpenter ; perhaps he 
could help us,” said Lily. 

“ Lily, if you mention that man’s name again this evening 
I’ll turn you out of the room,” said Lottie. 

“ Oh, but, Lottie, he is so handsome and so charming, and 
his people are quite the best people in the neighborhood, 
and they are coming to call on us,” said Lily. 

“They can call, but they won’t be admitted for three 
weeks at least ; no one will, except Mr. Barrett and Miss 
Savage.” 

“ And Mr. Willoughby ! ” exclaimed Lily. 

“Out you go,” said Jack, seizing Lily by the waist and 
carrying her bodily out of the room. 

“ Oh, dear ! oh, dear ! to think your poor, dear father’s 


LOTTIE'S PROBLEM, 


41 


child should live to make sofas and chairs ; it is enough to 
bring him back to this wicked world. You’ll never be able 
to do it, Lottie,” moaned Mrs. Vaughan. 

“Trust me, mother ; upholstering is child’s play compared 
to something else I mean to do for the good of my family 
and of a certain gentleman, if he only knew it was for his 
benefit. Now for Aunt Margaret ; I’ll write to her before I 
help Jack to put up the beds.” 

Lottie was eminently a woman of action rather than of 
thought ; she had probably never heard of the doctrine of 
Epictetus, that the end of man is Action, rather than the 
highest Thought ; but the beginning and middle as well as 
the end of her life was Action. 

Just now she was more prone to action than ever; she 
was at a restless age ; she had by no means settled down 
into single blessedness, though aware it was time she was 
married, if married she meant to be. 

She was at an age when girls are apt to develop a 
vocation for religion, or nursing, or teaching, or preaching ; 
to crave for work of some kind ; to demand an object in 
life ; to desire to turn the world topsy-turvy in order to 
find a firm piece of earth on which to poise their unstable 
souls. 

It is a transition period, ugly and painful as all transi- 
tional periods needs must be ; it affects the health of some 
of its victims, the temper of others, the characters of all. 
Its ugliest phase is when it prompts the sufferer to make a 
desperate effort to secure a husband. Unfortunately this 
was the form it took with Lottie. 

Many and various are the forms this period of unrest 
assumes ; but the cause is the same in all, though it mani- 
fests itself in different ways. 

One of its peculiarities is, the demand for work is rarely 
satisfied by that work which lies nearest to hand : the girl 
with an invalid father desires to become a hospital nurse ; 
the girl with younger brothers and sisters to teach desires 
to be a governess to other children ; the girl with a dull 
home wants to be a sister of mercy ; but it is a period 
which has to be lived through, and it needs much forbear- 
ance on the part of those who live with the sufferers, for it 
may last for years. 


42 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


It is a dark period, but it leads to light ; life is easier as 
it advances ; we expect so much less, and we get so much 
more than we expect as we grow older. 

In Lottie’s present mood the excitement of moving and 
of losing the furniture was rather welcome than otherwise 
to her ; it gave her plenty of scope for action, plenty of 
occupation ; it was by no means detrimental to the avowed 
object of her life, to marry Mr. Barrett ; on the contrary, it 
had awakened his interest and roused his sympathy, and it 
enabled her to exercise her peculiar talents as perhaps 
nothing else could have done. 

Mr. Barrett was an observant man, and he not only 
noticed Lottie’s ring the day she arrived and its disappear- 
ance after her return from Chesterfield, but he made a very 
shrewd guess as to what had become of it. 

Life is made up of details, and perhaps one of the reasons 
of Mr. Barrett’s success in life, and he was a self-made man, 
was the attention he paid to details. Cast on the world 
and his own resources at eighteen, he was now the duke’s 
agent with a salary of a thousand a year, besides the income 
he enjoyed from his savings. 

He noticed when he called the day after his journey to 
London that the packing cases in the hall were all empty, 
and he wondered where the contents could be, as the draw- 
ing room contained nothing but a carpet and a Chippendale 
courting chair, the dining room a table and some chairs, 
but a glance into the morning room, whither Lottie led him, 
enlightened him. 

Here she and Lily were engaged in making a sofa out 
of some boxes, while Jack was cutting a round hole in a 
common deal table, afterward to be painted for a washing 
stand ; two or three tables stood there already transformed 
into wash stands. 

Mr. Barrett brought the newspaper containing the news 
that some of their furniture had been washed ashore at 
Cherbourg, and offered to take the necessary steps for 
securing it and having it brought to England. 

“ Lottie, what are you going to do to old Goodman ? Are 
you going to prosecute him ?” said Jack. 

“ My dear boy, I am going to forgive him, it is more 
christianlike, and, what is still more to the point, it is 


LOTTIE'S PROBLEM. 43 

cheaper,” said Lottie, with a comic little air which made 
Mr. Barrett laugh. 

There was no nonsense about Lottie; she did not pretend 
to be better than she was ; and her naiveti was one of her 
charms. 

The news that there was some salvage was most welcome. 
Mrs. Vaughan hoped her husband’s portrait with his epau- 
lettes might be among the things saved, and Lily wished for 
the grandfather clock with the moon in the face ; whereas 
Lottie received the news with enthusiasm, partly because it 
would lead to more intercourse with Mr. Barrett, partly 
because some of the things they would otherwise have to 
dispense with might turn up. 

Before Mr. Barrett left Mr. Willoughby called, and was 
admitted on condition that he worked with them. 

“ Mr. Barrett and Miss Savage are the only people I am 
at home to at present ; so if you come in, Mr. Willoughby, 
you must turn to and help us,” said Lottie. 

Work of any kind was not in Mr. Willoughby’s line, a 
lazier man never moved, nevertheless he came in, and ten 
minutes later was helping Lily to nail the chintz on to the 
sofa. He enjoyed his afternoon so thoroughly, notwith- 
standing the shock his nerves sustained when he was in- 
troduced to Mrs. Vaughan at tea time, that he begged to 
be allowed to come the next morning. 

So it came to pass for the next fortnight Mr. Willoughby 
arrived punctually at ten every morning, and nailed or 
planed or sawed or glued or painted as he was bid till one 
o’clock, when he hurried home for luncheon, and re- 
appeared about three to remain till six. The general and 
Mrs. Willoughby asked no questions ; his mother concluded 
he found the house dull without Kitty, while his father 
shrewdly guessed he had found another attraction, and 
inwardly chuckled at his wife’s blindness while he fumed 
at the young scamp’s inconstancy, and congratulated him- 
self on having sent Kitty away, and, as he hoped, put a stop 
to any love making between them. 

It was soon very evident to the Vaughans that Mr. 
Willoughby was very much smitten by Lily ; and though 
Lottie was careful to impress on her younger sister that he 
was undoubtedly a desperate flirty and probably went on in 


44 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


the same style with half a dozen girls, still she secretly 
hoped his admiration might grow into something deeper. 

“ Lottie, how old am I to be in England ? ” said Lily 
one day. 

“ Why, the same age you were in Jersey, sixteen.” 

“ O Lottie, I have been sixteen so long. I must be 
eighteen now ; at any rate I shall tell Mr. Willoughby my 
true age.” 

“ You little goose. A woman should never tell her age ; 
she is the age she looks, which may be ten years older or 
younger than her real age.” 

“ I wonder why Mr. Willoughby always hides up when 
Mr. Barrett or Miss Savage calls,” said Lily, waiving for the 
present the question of age. 

“ You should ask him.” 

So I will the next time he does it.” 

Mr. Willoughby did it again the very next day ; he saw 
Mr. and Miss Savage coming to call as he and Lily were 
trying the advantages of the new courting chair in the 
drawing room, and he immediately fled to the morning 
room, giving as an excuse that he could not stand being 
buttonholed by old Savage. 

By this time the drawing room had begun to look quite 
furnished ; the china was arranged on shelves made by 
Jack, the sofa was a success, and Lottie’s art had culmi- 
nated in a large ottoman she had designed and they had 
jointly manufactured for the center of the room. 

Miss Savage, who took a great interest in the proceed- 
ings, was talking to Lottie about the progress she had made 
since her last visit, when she was suddenly interrupted by 
her father. 

He had been asking Mrs. Vaughan questions about 
Jersey, inquiring how much land was still cultivated and 
unavailable for building purposes, on which topics her 
information was very vague, when, raising his eyes to the 
window, he caught sight of Mr. Barrett’s new house. 

In a moment his whole manner changed, his handsome 
face was transformed, he rose, and, walking hastily to the 
window, exclaimed excitedly. 

“ Marion, Marion, come here! What do I see over there ? 
What is that they are building on the hill ? Who has dared 


LOTTIE'S PROBLEM. 


45 


to build in the very center of that lovely spot, hitherto 
undefiled by brick or mortar ? Answer me, Marion ; who, 
I say, has dared to do it ? ” 

“ Hush, dear, hush ! It is only a new house.” 

“Only a new house ! Only a new house ! Aren’t there 
houses enough in all conscience without building another 
there ! Who, I say, has dared to do it ? ” 

Lottie saw he was getting very much excited, and, not 
understanding the cause, innocently gave the information 
he so eagerly desired. 

“That house, Mr. Savage? That is Mr. Barrett’s new 
house, which he is building to live in ; it will be beautiful 
when it is finished, and it is in such a beautiful situation 
too,” said Lottie. 

“ It never will be finished, never be finished, never, 
never,” he muttered to himself in an undertone. 

“ Oh, yes, I hope it will. We are going over it one day 
with Mr. Barrett,” began Lottie, but Miss Savage managed 
to sign to her to say no more. 

It was too late. 

“ Going over it, are you ? Will you let me know the 
day ? I should like exceedingly to go with you,” he said 
in a tone of delight. 

“ Certainly, with pleasure, ” said Lottie, who began to 
suspect Mr. Savage was not quite sane, and she had heard 
you should never contradict the insane. 

“ We must ask Mr. Barrett’s leave first, dear ; it is rather 
a long way for you to walk,” said Miss Savage, who clearly 
did not care about the excursion. 

“ Not at all too far, my dear. Miss Vaughan, I beg you 
to let me know when you go ; I wish, of all things, to go 
over that house. I am an architect ; it is imperatively 
necessary that I should examine it. Promise to let me 
know.” 

“ I will be sure and tell Miss Savage as soon as the day 
is fixed,” said Lottie, inwardly resolving to keep the day 
a profound secret, and, moreover, to tell Mr. Barrett the 
excitement his new house had produced the next time she 
saw him. 

Miss Savage left almost immediately, but before he fol- 
lowed her Mr, Savage managed to whisper to Lottie, “ Don't 


46 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


tell Marion ; send word to me when the day is fixed, will 
you ? ” 

“ Yes,” said Lottie, inwardly hoping this fib would not 
be counted to her as unrighteousness, for she was deter- 
mined he should never enter the house till it was finished 
if she could help it. 

“ I am quite sure he means mischief of some kind, prophe- 
sying the house will never be finished ; horrid old man, he 
quite frightened me,” she said after the Savages were gone. 

“ Why, Lottie, what harm should he do to Mr. Barrett’s 
house ?” said Lily. 

“I don’t know. Pretend it was not properly built or 
unsafe, and persuade Mr. Barrett to pull it down, or talk 
some nonsense about it. I don’t believe the man is sane; 
I’ll ask Mr. Barrett the next time he comes,” said Lottie. 

Mr. Barrett, however, made light of the whole matter ; 
said we were all mad on one point, and that architecture 
was Savage’s mania ; but Lottie saw he was much more 
concerned than he cared to show, and when, to test him, 
she proposed taking Mr. Savage with them when they went 
to see over the house, she found she was right. 

“Oh! no, we don’t want Savage with us; I can take 
him at any time. Forget all about your promise. I came 
to tell you that you will probably get the few things that 
have been recovered from the wreck next week.” 

“ Oh 1 do you know what they are yet?” asked Lily. 

“Yes, Miss Lily ; your grandfather clock is among them 
— I can’t vouch for the moon ; there is a piano, which I 
fear won’t be good for much, and one or two large boxes, 
and I am afraid that is about all.” 

“Oh ! well, that is something. What should we do with- 
out you, Mr. Barrett ? We should never have got those 
things but for you,” said Lottie. 

As she was speaking the second post arrived, and Lily 
danced out of the room and back with a small parcel for 
Lottie. 

“ It is from Aunt Margaret, Lottie ; do open it, I am sure 
Mr. Barrett will excuse you.” 

“ Is this from the rich aunt I have heard you speak of? ” 
asked Mr. Barrett. 

“Yes, There is something inside. What can it be? 


LOTTIE'S PROBLEM. 


47 


Jack, come and guess. Grand excitement! Aunt Mar- 
garet has risen to the occasion. What has she sent us out 
of her riches? Guess,” said Lotcie. 

“ Banknotes,” said Mr. Barrett. 

“ Imitation lace to trim a dress with,” said Jack. 

“ Read the letter, Lottie ; perhaps that will help us,” said 
Lily. 

My Dear Lottie : 

I am truly grieved to hear of your disaster, so is your uncle. Of 
course you’ll prosecute the man. 

Of course, it costs nothing to do that,” interrupted 
Jack ironically. 

And I sincerely hope he will be severely punished. I send you, dear, 
a little contribution to your menage, which I hope will be a help. It is, 
I know, so difficult, dear Lottie, to get all the little things one wants at 
once. With best love to you all. I hope Jack is working hard. 

Your affectionate aunt, 

Margaret Vaughan. 

“ Oh ! open the parcel, Lily, this suspense is too much 
for my nerves,” said Lottie as she finished reading the letter. 

Lily opened the parcel and found it contained half a 
dozen muslin dessert doilies, with a spray of flowers painted 
in the center of each ; valued by Jack at eighteenpence 
the set. 

The doilies were greeted with ironical cheers in which 
Mr. Barrett joined. 

“ They are our nearest relations, and they have a lovely 
place in the west of England and only three thousand 
pounds a year, and one son,” said Lily. 

“ It is my daily prayer that son may make a mesalliance 
some day ; for the estate is not entailedo Uncle John is as 
proud as Lucifer, and if that happened I really think he 
would leave some of his money to Jack.” 

“ Don’t flatter yourself, Lottie, my dear ; half a dozen 
pocket handkerchiefs is all I expect to inherit from Uncle 
Vaughan. They’ll be more than I shall use at his funeral, I 
dare say, as I have yet to make his acquaintance.” 

Talking of making acquaintances reminds me to ask 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


4S 

if the Willoughbys have called on y. u yet?” said Mr. 
Barrett. 

“ No, but I am ready to receive visitors now. The girls, 
I believe, are away, but Mrs. Willoughby is coming to call, 
so her son says,” said Lottie. 

“ I wonder if she is going to call on them,” thought Mr. 
Barrett as he walked home. “ If she knew her son were as 
intimate as he is, I believe she’d go ten miles the other 
way — stuck-up woman ! If there is a person I dislike, it is 
that woman. The son is a good-for-nothing young scamp, 
I am afraid, handsome and pleasant enough, but there he 
begins and ends. Miss Willoughby is clever and hand- 
some, but too high-and-mighty to please me. The heiress 
is a harmless little thing, nothing in her and rather dnmpy ; 
like Byron, I hate a dumpy woman. I really think the gen- 
eral is the best of the bunch, and he is a cantankerous old 
chap from all accounts.” 

Thus mused George Barrett, by which it will be seen the 
Willoughbys were no favorites of his ; but the truth was 
they were rather inclined to patronize him, and he was 
much too independent to stand patronage even from his 
grace himself, far less from his grace’s fortieth cousin, as 
he irreverently designated Mrs. Willoughby. 


CHAPTER VI. 

MRS. VAUGHAN AT HOME. 

Men and women may be likened to different kinds of 
musical compositions. 

We have all met the solemn, pompous man with smooth 
hair and a fat body, who reminds us of a psalm tune after 
Tate and Brady. 

Some there are, women mostly, who are like a funeral 
dirge, always lamenting in a minor key the loss of some 
person or thing gone from them forever ; Mrs. Vaughan 
was such a person. 

Others are like a waltz ; gay, frivolous, with a dash of 
romance and a soup^on of melancholy in their composition, 


MRS. VA UGH AN' A T HOME. 49 

whose raison d'etre is apparently amusement. Mr. Alec 
Willoughby was one of these. 

Others are like a light operatic air, very pretty, very 
charming, but of which we are apt to weary after a while ; 
Lily Vaughan at present was like such an air, but with 
possibilities of developing variations, which should surpass 
the original theme in interest. 

Others are like one of Bach’s fugues ; equable, method- 
ical, with a taste for mathematics ; always calm and col- 
lected, devoid of passion but constant, returning again and 
again to their first love in all things ; George Barrett was 
such a man. 

Others who have their moods of grave and gay, who are 
burning with genius or passion ; who dream of high things 
and have noble aspirations, and mysterious desires for light 
to triumph over darkness, for grace to penetrate into the 
unseen, the unknown, the unknowable — these are like one 
of Beethoven’s sonatas ; choice spirits these, Virginia 
Willoughby among them. 

Miss Savage reminded one of Mendelssohn’s songs with- 
out words ; chastened, subdued, sometimes melancholy, 
sometimes breaking into an ecstasy of joy ; rather mysteri- 
ous ; a person who would strike everyone differently, who 
would appeal to a different part of individual natures; just 
as the Lieder ohne Worter affect everyone differently and 
suggest different words to each hearer. 

Since her father’s return Miss Savage’s life had been a 
puzzle even to herself ; sometimes, when he was reading 
some delightful book aloud or absorbed in his ’cello, which 
he played beautifully, she felt deliriously happy as she sat 
and watched him ; sometimes, when he spent the whole day 
calculating how long the inhabitants of England could 
subsist when the whole country was built over ; or when he 
behaved as he did that day at The Cottage when he saw 
Mr. Barrett’s house ; then she felt unspeakably sad. 

She could never bring herself to speak of her father’s 
state of mind to anyone, not even to Mr. Barrett, unless 
obliged to do so ; and nothing annoyed her so much as for 
anyone to appear to notice it; she loved to cheat herself 
into the belief that there was nothing the matter with him. 

She was not a pious woman, if going to church be a sign 


LOTTIE'S iVOOINC. 


50 

of piety, for she rarely went ; her father never did, and she 
stayed home with him. 

She was certainly not bigoted, for she would have gone to 
any place of worship her father desired to attend, from a 
Catholic chapel to a Jewish synagogue ; and probably, if 
left to herself, would have walked into just what happened 
to be nearest. 

“ It is the same God everywhere, my dear ; it is only the 
worship which varies, and I dare say there is something 
pleasing to Him in every form of belief and expression of 
worship,” she would say. 

If her practices were unorthodox, her belief was still more 
so ; and she occasionally gave vent to opinions calculated 
to make the hair of the orthodox stand on end, as the 
following extracts from her creed will testify : 

I believe in the happiness of the next world because of 
the misery in this ; day and night are a law of nature ; day 
must dawn, however long and dark the night be. 

“ I don’t believe in a place of future torment, because 
there is no need to go beyond this world and this life to 
find it. 

“ I believe we shall be satisfied in heaven, because there 
will be nothing but our spirits to satisfy, and pure spirits 
can have no desires. 

“ I believe Heaven is rest, attained by all whose life is a 
sacrifice ; for sacrifice is the only sure way of obtaining 
rest.” 

A very young curate, who had never known greater sor- 
row than a difficulty in meeting his tailor’s bill, once 
ventured to take Miss Savage to task for what he called 
her “ neglect of God’s ordinance ; ” presumably he knew 
what he meant ; Miss Savage did not, and told him so in a 
manner which precluded any farther explanation on his 
part ; but they afterward became excellent friends, for he 
meant well ; and she knew he had acted from conscientious 
motives. 

Indeed it was odd, seeing that Miss Savage seldom went 
to church, how intimate she was with the clergy of the 
neighborhood. The curates were always dropping in to 
tea, to the annoyance of the scrub, who remarked fre- 
quently : 


MRS. Vaughan AT HOME. 51 

“ If there were more pigs and fewer parsons the world 
would be all the better.” 

About a month after the arrival of the Vaughans and the 
departure of Virginia Willoughby and Kitty, Mrs. Wil- 
loughby paid Miss Savage a visit. 

Having duly enlarged upon her aches and pains, and 
lamented her want of backbone, she informed Miss Savage 
that her son had just got his commission and was to join 
his regiment the following week. 

“ I am very glad. I hope the girls will be coming home ; 
I have missed them terribly.” 

Yes, they are coming home, but not till Alec has left. 
General Willoughby won’t hear of Kitty meeting him again.” 

“ What do the young people say to that ? ” 

“ Alec takes it very calmly, as he does everything ; he 
means to marry Kitty eventually, and he is so easy-going he 
does not mind waiting ; but poor little Kitty is fretting 
terribly, Vi tells me.” 

“ I am very sorry for the child,” said Miss Savage gravely, 
for rumors of Mr. Alec’s attentions to Lily Vaughan had 
reached her ears. 

“ I hope she’ll recover her spirits before she comes home ; 
her depression would affect me terribly, and, as you know, 
Marian, I have no backbone.” 

“ By the way, dear Mrs. Willoughby, have you called on 
my new neighbors the Vaughans yet ? ” said Miss Savage, 
anxious to avoid the topic of Mrs. Willoughby’s spine. 

“ No ; Alec rather wants me to do so, because he thinks 
it would be kind, as they have lost all their furniture. 
AVhat sort of people are they ? Are they possible ? ” 

“ I like the girls, they are so bright, and the son is 
delightful ; the father was a naval captain, and, as you will 
see, evidently made a mhalUance. But I wish you would 
call ; to know Virginia will be a liberal education for the 
younger girl, whose character is still to form.” 

“ Well, as you wish it. I’ll go to-day ; I can easily drop 
them if I don’t like them.” 

So it came to pass that on leaving The Dell Mrs. Wil- 
loughby ordered her coachman to drive her to The Cottage, 
where a boy in buttons opened the door and announced her 
arrival in due style. 


LO r TIE'S WOOlNC. 


52 


Jack saw her from his bedroom window, and was there- 
upon seized with a wild desire to play some trick on this 
grand lady, who walked up the garden as if she were con- 
ferring a favor on the path by so doing. 

“ Great Scott ! What an air ! What can I do to impress 
her ladyship with the importance of the Vaughans ? I have 
it : I’ll powder my hair, put on a frock coat of father’s and 
a little black tie, and take in the tea. Butlers don’t usually 
have powdered hair ; but never mind, it will impress the old 
lady. I must make haste ; she won’t stop long,” and Mr. 
Jack made the necessary alterations in his toilet. 

Ten minutes later he ran downstairs as solemn as the 
solemnest of butlers to the kitchen, where he was greeted 
with roars of laughter. 

“ Mary, get tea ready as fast as you can. James, bring it 
into the hall, and then do exactly as I tell you, and if you 
smile I’ll break every bone in your skin. There is the 
door bell. I’ll answer it,” said Jack, without relaxing 
a muscle. 

The postman was at the door when Jack opened it, and 
did not recognize him till he got outside the gate, when Mrs. 
Willoughby’s servants on the box of her carriage saw the 
man convulsed with laughter. 

Jack put the letters on a tray, threw open the drawing 
room door very wide, and stalked majestically up to 
Lottie. 

Lottie, who was talking to Mrs. Willoughby, was so taken 
aback by his audacity that she very nearly betrayed herself, 
but she managed to control her longing to box Jack’s ears, 
and took the letters as if it were all right. 

Mrs. Vaughan was too terrified to say or do anything : 
the crack of doom must follow such impudence, she was 
sure ; while Lily, who was fortunately half hidden by the 
window curtains, collapsed entirely and shook with silent 
laughter. 

Mrs. Willoughby put up her gold pince-nez and began to 
fear she had made a fatal mistake in calling on such very 
extraordinary people ; Mrs. Vaughan she had decided at 
a glance was quite impossible, and to that lady’s relief did not 
attempt to address any of her conversation to her. Lottie 
was not quite up to her standard ; there was just qudque 


MR3. VA VGHAN A T HOME. 


S3 

chose qui manque^ as the French say ; and Lily was pretty, 
but had no manner ; but a butler with powdered hair was 
a phenomenon beyond the ken of Mrs. Willoughby’s 
experience. 

“ It is so very odd, my father’s portrait was washed 
ashore,” said Lottie as Jack strode out of the room. 

“ Taken in full uniform with epaulettes,” murmured Mrs. 
Vaughan, but Mrs. Willoughby was happily so absorbed in 
contemplating the retreating figure of Jack that she did not 
hear it. 

“By the way, there are no taxes in Jersey, are there?” 
she said abruptly, thinking of the tax on powder. 

“ No ! We find there are a great many in England,” said 
Lottie as the door bell sounded, and she offered a silent 
prayer that James would answer it. 

The prayer was not answered, for after a brief pause the 
door was thrown open and Jack walked half across the room 
and announced Mr. Barrett, who followed as grave as a 
judge, and looking so sublimely unconscious of anything 
unusual that Lottie could not make out if he had recognized 
Jack or not. 

As a matter of fact he had recognized him immediately, 
but had promised to keep up the joke, as he cordially hated 
Mrs. Willoughby. To avoid her he retreated to the window 
seat with Lily, whom he teased in an undertone about her 
conquest of Alec. 

Presently the door opened again, and Jack entered carry- 
ing a tablecloth, followed by James with a five o’clock tea 
table, one recovered from the wreck, which he placed by 
Lottie’s side, and then beat a hasty retreat, while Jack 
solemnly spread the cloth over it, and then made up the fire 
in a condescending manner, and at last, to the intense relief 
of his elder sister, took himself out of the room. 

Mrs. Vaughan was now making such wild efforts to 
restrain herself from laughing that her red cheeks became 
purple, and Mr. Barrett secretly feared she would be seized 
with a fit of apoplexy ; to avoid which crisis lie pretended 
his conversation with Lily, who was on the verge of hysteric.s, 
was the cause of the merriment. 

“ Don’t spoil the fun ; your sister’s face is a study ; what 
an actress she would make,” he whispered as Lottie prat- 


54 


LOTTIES WOOING. 


tied to Mrs. Willoughby about the state in which the piano 
was found when it arrived, and inwardly wondered what 
form of execution Jack merited. 

For the last month she had been longing for Mrs. Wil- 
loughby to call ; and now when that auspicious moment 
had arrived Satan entered simultaneously into Jack and 
prompted him to behave in this scandalous fashion. 

He came in again almost immediately, followed by James, 
staggering under the weight of the tea tray, which Jack 
proceeded to arrange slowly and deliberately as soon as it 
was placed on the table, Lottie meanwhile boiling with 
anger as he pottered about fiddling with the cups and 
saucers. 

“ Are you musical ? ” inquired Mrs. Willoughby. 

“ We play and sing, but you would hardly call us musical, 
I fear.” 

“ What nonsense, Lottie ! My children are very musical, 
Mrs. Willoughby. Lily sings beautifully, though she has 
never had a lesson ; and no one can beat Lottie at playing 
dance music, she keeps such good time. And my son sings 
comic songs,” said Mrs. Vaughan, who was very proud of 
these performances. 

Mrs. Willoughby smiled a superior smile, and wondered 
what Virginia, who played magnificently for an amateur, 
and Kitty, who had learned the violin since she was a child, 
would say to this. 

“ You have a son, then ; where is he ? ” she asked. 

At that moment he was coming into the room with a 
silver kettle in his hand, followed by the boy with a spirit- 
lamp. 

“ He is studying for Sandhurst,” said Lottie, just in time 
to save her mother from betraying the situation, and per- 
haps thereby sending Mrs. Willoughby off in a huff, never 
to return. 

Jack proceeded to light the spirit-lamp, and then having 
carefully glanced at the table to see that everything was 
there, said in a confidential tone to Lottie : 

“ Tea is quite ready, ma’am.” 

“ That will do ; you need not remain,” said Lottie as 
civilly as she could speak under the trying circumstances. 

“ No tea for me. Miss Vaughan, I must get home to tea. 


MRS. VA UGH AN A T HOME. 


55 


General Willoughby is alone, my daughters are away from 
home, and my son is never in to tea. I shall hope to see 
your brother before Mr. Willoughby joins his regiment ; he 
may be able to give him a few wrinkles, as he has just left 
Sandhurst,” said Mrs. Willoughby, rising to go. Lottie was 
too glad to get rid of her to press her to remain, and no 
sooner was she safely off the premises than Jack burst into 
the drawing room in a roar of laughter. 

“Jack! I should like to slay you, you wretched boy; 
what on earth possessed you to behave like an escaped 
lunatic ? ” exclaimed Lottie, seizing the culprit and shaking 
him with all her might. 

“ My dear Lottie, I wished to receive the duke’s cousin 
with befitting solemnity.” 

“ What would Mrs. General Willoughby have said, if she 
had known who you were ? ” said Mrs. Vaughan. 

“ We must be thankful for small mercies,” said Lottie, 
including in the list the fact that some restraining force had 
kept Mrs. Vaughan from calling their visitor “ Mrs. General 
Willoughby” to her face. That fatal mistake had at least 
been avoided. 

“ What could she have thought of us ? ” said Lily. 

“The saints only know; vulgar, pretentious idiots, I 
should think she considers us. Oh ! here comes Mr. Wil- 
loughby now. Jack, I’ll never forgive you if you let him see 
you in that state ; get out of the way this moment,” said 
Lottie. 

“ Where am I to get to ? There is only one door ; he 
will see itie if I get out of the window.” 

“Get inside the sofa, there is plenty of room. Quick ! 
I would not have him know the way you have insulted 
his mother for worlds,” said Lottie as she hustled Jack 
inside the sofa. 

“ Look here, if he stays too long, Lily, or if anyone sits 
on the sofa, I shall shout out, so I warn you,” said Jack, 
raising the lid of the sofa to make this remark, as Mr. Wil- 
loughby’s step was heard in the hall. 

Mr. Willoughby’s visits were always long, and Jack 
was kept a prisoner for nearly an hour, but he after- 
ward confided to Lottie he would willingly spend an- 
other hour in the same close quarters, if he could be 


56 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


rewarded by honorably overhearing another declaration 
of love. 

Mr. Barrett left almost immediately, and soon after he 
was gone Lottie was called away, and Lily and Mr. Wil- 
loughby sat flirting, and discussing his future plans in an 
undertone, till some unmistakable sounds announced that 
Mrs. Vaughan was fast asleep, and Jack heard Alec say to 
Lily. 

“ Come and try your favorite chair.” 

“Your favorite chair, you mean, not mine,” said Lily. 

“ I hope they won’t try the sofa,” thought Jack, who had 
raised the lid a trifle to admit some air, and, to his relief, 
Lily moved into the courting-chair and Mr. Willoughby 
seated himself beside her unreproved. 

“ What shall I do without you, I wonder ? ” he asked. 

“ 1 don’t know, but I once heard a song which might 
help you ; it said ‘ When you are away from the lips that 
you love, make love to the lips that you are near.’ ” 

“Upon my word. Miss Lily is going it. She has for- 
gotten I am her audience ; shall I cough ? ” thought Jack. 

“ You know I love you then, Lily, my own,” said Alec, 
putting his arm round Lily’s waist and bending his hand- 
some face down close to hers. 

“ I, indeed ! I don’t know anything of the kind,” said 
Lily, coquettishly shrinking from him. 

“ But I do, and I shall, till my dying day, and the misery 
of it is, my father has threatened to stop my allowance if I 
set foot in Workwell again till he gives me leave.” 

“ Why ? On account of me ? ” 

“ Oh ! no ; he does not know I know you ; I can’t tell 
you why ; my father is a regular martinet. If he takes it 
into his head that I am not to come back to this place — and 
if you did not live in it, I should never care to see it again — 
I can only come back at my peril. He would stop my 
allowance to a certainty if I did.” 

“ How cruel he must be ! How long are you to keep 
away?” said Lily, in a sympathetic tone. 

“ A year certainly, perhaps longer. Shall you mind ? ” 

There was a paus,e, and Alec repeated the question and 
this time drew the answer he desired, 

“ Yes/’ 


AIJ?S. VA UGH AN A T HOME. 


57 


Then I’ll come ; I’ll disguise myself in some way and 
come.” 

“ Oh, do ! it will be such fun,” said Lily, clapping her 
hands. 

“ I will. They dress the wells here with flowers on 
Ascension Day and Whit Monday, and all sorts of people^ 
halt, maimed, blind, and deaf, come from the country to try 
the water which is supposed to cure them. One well here 
is good for rheumatism ; I mean the one near The Dell. 
Well, be there about four o’clock on Whit Monday, and look 
out for a man with a shamrock in his buttonhole, and put 
your pride in your pocket and ask me home to tea. I may 
be got up as a tramp ; anyhow, you will only recognize me 
by the shamrock, but you may pretend I am an old Jersey 
friend.” 

“ Oh ! it will be lovely. I may tell Lottie, mayn’t I ? ” 
said Lily. 

“No need, my dear. I’ll save you the trouble,” murmured 
Jack. 

“ Yes, but no one else. If my father found me out, he 
would stop my allowance as sure as a gun. But I would 
risk my very life for you, my own — you are mine, aren’t you ?” 

“ No, certainly not. I belong to nobody.” 

“ But you will be mine some day, promise me you will ? ” 

“ I can’t promise.” 

“Yes, you can, you must. Lily, I never knew what love 
was till I saw you. I have played the fool with a lot of 
girls, but may I die the moment I am false to you, Lily, my 
own sweet flower. Promise to wait for me ; I am only a 
poor sub dependent on my father at present, but I shall be 
better off some day. You do love me, don’t you ?” 

“ I don’t know. I have never been in love, so I can’t 
say,” said Lily in a teasing tone. 

“ Then you don’t love me ; you’d know fast enough if 
you did. Will you learn to love me ? ” 

“ Oh, yes, if I can get anyone to teach me. Do you 
think Mr. Barrett or one of the curates could show me 
the way ? ” 

“ Hang Barrett and confound the curates. I’ll shoot the 
whole covey if I catch them up to that game,” said Alcc 
savagely. 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


58 


“ Well, how am I to learn, then ? You are going away ; I 
don’t see how I am to learn unless I am taught.” 

“You little angel, why do you torment me so? You 
know what I mean ?” 

“ No, I don’t. I wish I did.” 

“ Well, think of me all day, dream of me at night, long 
for me to come back, write to me often, and you’ll soon 
learn to love me. Will you do this ? ” and Mr. Willoughby’s 
face was so close to Lily’s that her golden locks touched 
his dark hair. 

Jack could not hear her answer, but it was apparently 
satisfactory, for there was a brief silence, and a minute 
later when Lottie came into the room, Lily was alone in 
the courting chair and Mr. Willoughby at the opposite side 
of the room. 

“ Have you two quarreled ?” said Lottie. 

“ Oh, dear, no ; far from it,” said Alec. 

“ Umph ! Well, I don’t leave you alone again, 1 can tell 
you. Just come and look at father’s portrait ; I have been 
regilding the frame.” 

The lovers obeyed, and Jack availed himself of the oppor- 
tunity of escaping from his prison. 

Thus it came to pass that Mr. Alec Willoughby found 
himself on the eve of joining his regiment in rather an 
awkward predicament. 

He had promised to marry two girls, and had sworn 
fidelity to both, and yet he was not, strictly speaking, engaged 
to either ; for General Willoughby had forbidden his 
engagement to Kitty, and Lily had not yet accepted him. 
He knew very well what he meant to do ; he meant to 
marry Lily, of whose love he was by no means certain, and 
he had not the remotest intention of marrying Kitty, who, 
as he knew, loved him passionately. 

Meanwhile it was on account of his supposed attachment 
to Kitty that he was banished from Workwell till she was 
of age ; and he knew his mother would do all in her power 
to promote a marriage between him and Kitty. 

On the other hand, he would meet with nothing but 
opposition from all his family if he proposed to marry Lily, 
who was penniless. His mother would consider it a mhalli- 
anccj his father would be certain to oppose it, Virginia 


MRS. VA UGH AN A T HOME. 


59 


would not like it, though she might not take any active 
measures to hinder it ; but for all that there was only one 
person on earth who would prevent him from carrying out 
his intentions, and that was Lily herself. 

The fact that she was penniless and he dependent on his 
father did not trouble him : he was an easy-going fellow, 
and generally managed to fall on his own feet ; but he was 
as lazy as the proverbial dog which lay down to bark. 

He walked home that evening dreaming of Lily, too 
much absorbed in thinking of her to hear the wild singing 
of the thrushes and blackbirds making love to their mates 
in the sweet spring air, or to notice the golden light from 
the setting sun which wrapped the hills, bristling with spruce, 
firs, and larches, in a soft, warm glow, and the rosy sky — which 
might have been blushing for the sins of men, Mr. Alec’s 
included, it was so red — or the graceful trunks of the silver 
birches not yet in leaf, which, like the still naked silver 
poplars, stood out against it. 

All this beauty was lost on him ; lost on him, too, were 
the frail, yellow daffodils — dillies, as the Derbyshire people 
call them — which were fading in acres in the fields and 
woods around him, and the great golden cups of the May- 
bubbles or wild marsh marigolds just coming into flower 
by the riverside. 

He saw nothing, heard nothing, dreamt of nothing but 
Lily. 

It was dusk before he reached home, but already the 
great brown, tawny owls which lived in the wood at the 
back of his father’s house were hooting in their wild, weird, 
mocking, melancholy fashion among the trees, and Alec, 
who, like all lovers, was superstitious, wondered if it were a 
bad omen. 

His steps startled them, and their uncanny cry “ to-whit, 
to-whoo” was uttered repeatedly as he walked up the drive, 
and arrested his attention though the blackbirds had failed 
to do so. There is something fascinating in the myste- 
rious tremulous hooting of these birds, which makes the 
most unobservant and unimaginative person pause to lis- 
ten. Are* they scoffing at us poor men? What is the 
message these shadowy creatures of the night bring to 
men ? In the gladsome sunshine their cry might pass for 


6o 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


mere mockery ; but piercing the murky gloom of night, it 
is fraught with power to send a thrill of terror through 
timid hearts. 

“ I should like to shoot them,” muttered Alec to himself 
as he crossed the courtyard, in the center of which stood a 
small fountain, and entered the house, whose lights were 
welcome after the dusk of the evening. 

Less welcome was a letter from Kitty which his mother 
handed him privately as he went to his room to dress for 
dinner. It was inclosed in one to Mrs. Willoughby, beg- 
ging that lady to ask the general’s permission to give it to 
Alec as the writer was not allowed to come home and say 
good-by to him. 

Mrs. Willoughby acted in a characteristic manner ; she 
gave the letter to her son and said nothing to her husband 
about it. 

It was a sad little letter, full of love and eternal devotion 
to Alec, written with the heart's blood of a loving woman, 
read with complacent indifference by her inconstant lover, 
who thrust it into a drawer out of sight, and strove to for- 
get its existence. 

Alec had a happy knack of pushing unpleasant things of 
all kinds, concrete and abstract, away from him, for the 
time at any rate ; they might and probably would crop up 
again at some other time, but until they did he strove suc- 
cessfully to forget them. His relations with Kitty would 
probably give him some trouble in the future; meanwhile he 
would let things take their course. His father had forbid- 
den ^him to hold any intercourse with her ; he would obey 
his father; nay, he would go beyond his father’s instructions 
by making desperate love to Lily Vaughan. 

“ Have you written to your colonel yet, Alec ? ” said the 
general that evening. 

No, sir.” 

** Then do so at once. What a dilatory, lazy fellow you 
are, to be sure. Write now, and let me see what you 
say.” 

Alec reluctantly got up and lounged across the room to 
his mother’s writing table, whence he took a sheet of small 
crested note paper, and indited a letter to his colonel upon 
it. In looking for an envelope to match he came across a 


Af/i'S. VAUGHAN AT HOME. 6i 

letter from his mother to Kitty, purposely, as he knew, left 
open for him to inclose an answer. 

This he* had no inclination to do, but the thought of 
Kitty’s disappointment when she found there was not a line 
in answer to her loving letter constrained him, so he took 
up his pen and wrote inside the envelope one word, “ Good- 
by," and signed it with his initials, and then left the 
letter on the table for his father to see if he chose to 
look. 

“ Now, Alec, have you finished that letter ? " asked the 
general. 

“Yes, sir," said Alec, striding lazily across to his father 
with the sheet of note paper in his hand. 

“ Zounds, sir, what in the name of fortune do you call 
this ? " exclaimed the general in a fury. 

“ A letter to the colonel." 

“ A letter, indeed ; this trumpery little note a letter, an 
official letter. Pray, sir, did you learn how to write official 
letters at Sandhurst ? " 

“Yes, it is the only thing I did learn, I think," said 
Alec. 

“ This was the paper you used, of course; little note paper 
only fit for invitations ? " demanded the general sarcastically, 
as he flung the offending note into the fire. 

“ Oh, I see ! I ought to have used official paper," said 
Alec calmly. 

“ Ought, indeed ! You are fit for nothing but to dangle 
after half a dozen girls, and write love letters on pink paper 
to them ; and you never will be fit for anything else. You’ll 
never make an officer, never. An official letter written on 
trumpery invitation note paper ! Zounds, sir ! if I were your 
colonel, I’d confine you to barracks for a month. You 
a soldier, indeed ! Your sword is the pen of a ready writer 
of nonsense to pretty girls ; and it is about the only weapon 
you are fit to wield." 

Alec was, as a rule, an exceedingly good-tempered man, 
slow to anger, and very difficult to rouse, but once fairly 
roused he was as violent as his father. The general’s 
words touched a sensitive place. They implied a doubt as 
to his courage, and roused the sleeping demon of anger in 
his breast ; he turned very pale, bit his lip, clenched his 


62 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


hands, and abruptly left the room, not with his usual 
slow, deliberate step, but with hasty strides. 

“ Umph ! Bless my soul and body, what — where — why has 
that young scamp gone away, Margaret ? ” exclaimed the 
general. 

“Because he daren’t trust himself to remain. You forget 
that Alec is a man, and won’t stand an insult even from his 
father. He has the temper of an angel, but not even an 
angel would bear your abuse unmoved ; you’ll provoke Alec 
too far one of these days, and then 1 won’t answer for the 
consequences.” 

“Tut, tut, tut, what did I say, then ?” asked the general, 
who had said a great deal more than for obvious reasons 
can be reported here, and that certainly was impossible for 
his wife to repeat. 

“ You hinted he was a coward, and he won’t stand 
that.” 

“ I should think not indeed. Why, I’d shoot him if he 
did. Did I really hint that ? Dear me, the boy annoyed 
me so I scarcely knew what I did say,” said the general, 
cooling down and beginning to repent of his hastiness. 

Shortly after Alec came back with the letter rewritten 
on a large sheet of official paper, which he handed to his 
father in silence ; and it was evident, from his unusual 
manner, that he had not yet recovered his temper com- 
pletely. 

“That is just the very thing. God bless you, my boy ! I 
should not wonder if you win more honors than your old 
father, after all,” said the general, and Alec accepted the 
intended apology, 


CHAPTER VH. 

THE PROMISE OF MAY. 

“ There is no entirely fatal person but the dunce,” said 
Carlyle. > 

Mrs. Willoughby would have differed slightly from the 
philosopher, had she been aware of his dictum ; her idea of 
an entirely fatal person was a person ignorant of polite 


THE PROMISE OF MAY. 63 

society, who might perhaps be called a social dunce, a 
person who committed fatal solecisms, such as shaking 
hands when introduced, or eating curry with a knife, or 
behaving as poor Mrs. Vaughan constantly behaved in spite 
of Lottie’s watchfulness. 

Mrs. Vaughan was, in Mrs. Willoughby’s opinion, a social 
dunce, or, in her own words, “ a fatal woman, quite impos- 
sible, my dears,” and the result of this judgment was 
Mrs. Willoughby did an exceedingly rude thing : she invited 
Jack and the girls to dinner and omitted to include Mrs. 
Vaughan in the invitation. 

She acted without her host instead of without her guest 
in doing this ; she left the fertile resources of Miss Lottie’s 
brain out of the equation, which she flattered herself she 
had correctly stated. Miss Vaughan proved herself quite 
equal to the occasion ; she accepted the invitation for her 
mother, her sister, and herself, and left Jack out altogether, 
choosing to imagine Mrs. and not Mr. Vaughan had been 
invited. 

“ If the woman does not know how to behave she must 
be taught,” said Lottie to Lily, to whom alone she confided 
the little occurrence after she had sent Jack up one fine 
May morning with her answer. 

The general was in his garden when Jack arrived, so the 
butler, an old soldier servant, asked if he would mind join- 
ing his master there. 

It was a beautiful old garden containing terraces, an 
avenue of magnificent old elms, lawns, and high old- 
fashioned box borders to the flower beds which just now 
were a blaze of tulips and hyacinths ; there was a fountain 
in one part and near it a quaint old stone ruin called the 
pulpit, used as a summerhouse, from whence a lovely view 
of the valley beneath was obtained, for Greenhouse, be it 
remembered, stood on the top of a hill. 

There was also a rose garden, and here Jack found the 
general superintending some extraordinary gardening opera- 
tions on the part of a young gardener, who was engaged in 
planting a dozen rose trees with their roots in the air. 
The relations between master and man appeared some- 
what strained, the man was working furiously, evidently 
in a state of suppressed anger, while his master was 


64 


LOTTIE'S WOOING, 


looking grimly on, with a sardonic smile playing about his 
lips. 

“ There, sir,” he remarked as Jack joined him, “ now, 
perhaps the next time I give you a reasonable order, you’ll 
attend to it. I gave you one yesterday which you chose to 
disobey, because being an ignorant fellow you thought you 
knew everything ; so to-day I gave you an unreasonable 
order, just to show you I mean to be obeyed. This after- 
noon you can undo this morning’s work, and replant those 
rose trees in the proper way.” 

Then as he walked away with Jack he continued : 
“ That’s the way to teach these fellows obedience ; they 
are an independent lot, with no more manners than a stuck 
pig. I would have cashiered him at once, but as they say 
here, ‘ he has ne’er an idle bone in his body’, so I thought 
I would give him another trial.” 

“ He won’t forget this morning’s lessons easily, I should 
think,” said Jack, laughing at the recollection of the 
inverted rose trees. 

“ By the way, I hope you are coming to dine with us 
next week,” said the general, as he led Jack into the house 
by a side door, through a room known as the duke’s room, 
because, when in former days his grace used the house as 
his shooting box, he slept in it ; and Mrs. Willoughby 
retained the name because it sounded as if the duke were 
in the habit of staying with her and occupying it. 

“ What’s in a name ? ” said. Juliet, who, if her own name 
had been Susan, would have been less famous. 

Apparently a great deal of pleasure lies in a name, for 
there was certainly nothing in this room except its name 
which savored of the duke, and yet it gave Mrs. Willougby 
a great deal of pleasure to hear a room in her house so 
called. It was an empty pleasure, no doubt, seeing that the 
room, so far as the duke was concerned, was decidedly 
empty, but after all, pleasure is only subjective ; “what is 
sauce for the goose is not sauce for the gander ” ; what is 
pleasure to the hounds is death to the fox ; what is heaven 
to the good is quite another place to the wicked. 

This pleasure was as great a pleasure to Mrs. Willoughby 
as shooting was to her husband ; and the Englishman’s 
proverbial idea of pleasure — “ it is a fine day, let us go and 


THE PROMISE OE MA V. 65 

kill something," — is as incomprehensible to the foreign 
philosopher as caviare is unpalatable to the general. 

But to return to Jack Vaughan. 

“ My people are coming, general, but I don’t think the 
invitation included me." 

“ Oh, yes, I am quite sure it did, at any rate I shall tell 
Mrs. Willoughby you are coming," said the general, and 
Jack went home in high glee. 

On his way back to The Cottage he met with an adven- 
ture which was destined to make him a frequent guest at 
Greenhouse. He was walking* through a beech wood, now 
literally carpeted with bluebells or wild hyacinths and wind 
flowers or wood anemones, when it occurred. 

The sun was shining brilliantly, the birds were singing, 
the bees humming, the gnats dancing with joy ; all nature 
was waking from the long sleep of winter, and Jack added 
his quota to the chorus of thanksgiving by whistling the 
last popular air ; he, like the birds and the trees and the 
gnats, was glad to be alive on such a glorious day. Mere 
existence is a joy on a fine May day. 


“ The blossom had opened on every bough, 

Oh ! joy for the promise of May, of May, 

Oh ! joy for the promise of May.” 

Suddenly loud cries for help broke into this natural 
music like a sharp discord, and Jack abruptly ceased 
whistling and hurried in the direction of the cries, which 
seemed to come from a field outside the wood he was 
crossing. 

As soon as he reached the stile, which separated the 
wood from this meadow, he saw a girl standing by the river- 
side wringing her hands and shrieking for help ; she was 
rather short, and had coils of bright auburn hair, and he 
recognized her at once as Kitty Arundel. 

At her feet lay a fishing basket and some rods, and lying 
on the ground stretched out on her face was another figure, 
also a girl’s, but who she was,- or what she was doing. Jack 
could not at first make out. The meadow sloped steeply 
down from the stile to the river, and as he flew rather than 
ran down the hill, he made out that the other figure was 


66 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


Virginia Willoughby, who appeared to be holding something 
in the river, for one arm was stretched out over the surface 
of the water, which was nearly flush with the bank, while 
with the other little gloved hand she clung to the bank, and 
looked in imminent danger of falling in. 

When Jack reached the spot he saw the object Virginia 
was holding was a boy’s head, which she had seized by the 
hair and was just managing to keep above the water, which 
was very rapid, and it required all her strength to prevent 
the current from carrying the child away. 

“ O Vi, let go, you’ll fall in yourself. Oh, help ! 
help ! The boy fell in,” exclaimed Kitty as Jack came 
up. 

“ All right, hold on another minute. Lie down flat your- 
self and catch hold of her feet,” said Jack, as he pulled off 
his coat, waistcoat, and boots. 

“ Catch hold of Miss Willoughby ; I’ll save the boy,” said 
Jack to Kitty as he jumped into the clear rippling water, 
which sparkled like silver in the sunshine, and seemed 
laughing at the game it was playing. Kitty sank on her 
knees and caught hold of Virginia’s skirts just in time to 
save her from falling in, and she let go of the boy as Jack 
seized him and in two or three strokes put him ashore. 

“ Oh ! thank you, a thousand times ; you have saved the 
boy’s life, and mine, too, probably, for I was determined I 
would not let go, and I am not sure that I could have saved 
him,” said Virginia as Jack came ashore. 

“The young rascal is all right, isn’t he? He is not 
unconscious; he is only frightened,” said Jack as the boy 
lay panting and spluttering, shivering and sobbing, on the 
grass. 

“It was your own fault, Tom. You ought to be very 
thankful you are not drowned. I told you not to lean over 
the bank,” said Virginia as she picked the boy up and wiped 
his face. He was a child they hired to carry their basket 
and bait for them. 

“ He is all right. Run home, you young rascal, and get 
some dry clothes as quick as you can, and mind what is said 
to you another time,” said Jack, who, like the boy, was 
dripping wet. 

“ I think you ought to do the same. I am so sorry you 


THE PROMISE OF MA Y. 67 

have had a ducking, and I really don’t know how to thank 
you,” said Virginia as the boy moved olf. 

“ Oh ! I am all right, thanks. I would offer to see you 
home, only I am not fit to be seen with ladies. I am afraid 
you are both rather upset.” 

“ I was so terrified, Vi,” said Kitty, clinging to Virginia 
half crying. 

“ I rather enjoyed it. In fact, now the danger is over, I 
think I enjoyed it very much. Mr. Vaughan, please put on 
your boots and go home as quickly as you can, and come 
up and see how we are this afternoon. My father will like 
to hear your account of our adventure,” said Virginia. 

Jack took her advice and they separated. Jack hurrying 
to The Cottage, and the two girls strolling slowly up the 
hill through the wood to Greenhouse in the sweet sunshine 
of May. All three were stirred by the scene they had just 
been enacting ; all three unconsciously filled with hopes of 
“the promise of May.” 

They, none of them, not even Jack, knew how happy they 
really were, for the happiness of youth consists, for the most 
part, of anticipation, anticipation of future joys, which, alas ! 
is so seldom realized. 

Unconscious happiness is the greatest happiness, we are 
told, so probably Jack was the happiest of the three ; “ the 
promise of May ” to him was the hope of glory in battle, of 
fame, of what he would have called “ jolly life, free from 
care ; meanwhile he was quite content with the present and 
was in no particular hurry for this brilliant future to come. 

Virginia felt the charm of nature, so keen in the spring ; 
she had an artist’s eye, and a real love of beauty, seeing it 
where the unseeing eye sees none, and enjoying life all the 
more for this gift of perceiving beauty, a gift by no means 
bestowed on everyone. To her the “ promise of May ” 
was vague and uncertain and fraught with a touch of sad- 
ness. She was full of high hopes and noble aspirations, she 
was conscious of her capability for feeling great sorrow also, 
for she knew the two generally walk side by side if not 
hand in hand ; she glimpsed the power of sacrifice in her 
own soul, if — and this “ if ” was the note of sadness in the 
May song the spring birds sang to her — if she ever met any 
one worthy to receive her libations. 


68 


LOTTIE* S tVOOING. 


Virginia was proud ; she was superior to the general run 
of people, and she knew it ; like many other young ardent 
spirits she was apt to be scornful of all who fell short of her 
ideal of perfection. It is a grave fault, but it brings its own 
nemesis, and the scorner in the long run suffers more than 
the scorned ; the discipline of suffering is its best scourge ; 
youth is the time when it is the strongest, it grows weaker 
as we grow older, as we learn to be more conscious of 
our own failings, more tolerant of the shortcomings of 
others. 

“ The promise of May ” to Kitty might be summed up in 
one word — Alec. The birds and the bees, the butterflies 
and flowers all seemed to promise that the Rajah would 
relent, and let Alec be hers. 

Rose-colored were the glasses through which these young 
people peered into the future, that future which is so merci- 
fully veiled from us, and very fair to them, as to others, 
seemed the prospect. 

Well for Jack if the rose-color never deepens into blood- 
red. Well for Virginia if it fade not away like the sunset 
tints or the rosy dawn ! Well for Kitty if it be not changed 
into black, not by a chemical process, but by the incon- 
stancy of her god. 

Before this incident Jack had stood in awe of Virginia, 
whom he classed as a very high and mighty young lady, 
but on that occasion they admired each other’s courage, and 
from that day they became fast friends. 

Virginia soon grew to treat Jack as a younger brother, his 
straightforward manliness, his utter unselfconsciousness, his 
scorn of all affectation and shams of every kind, attracted 
her ; and the fact that he had unhesitatingly jumped into 
the river to help her, and save the boy, made a solid founda- 
tion for the friendship which grew up between them. 

Jack on his side not only admired Virginia’s beauty and 
courage, but as he knew more of her, he grew to consider 
her as a superior being, whom he was too sensible to fall in 
love with, but for whom he entertained a chivalrous devo- 
tion. He would as soon have thought of falling in love 
with Miss Savage as with Miss Willoughby. In fact, he was 
very unromantic, and frequently declared love was non- 
sense, and he should never marry anyone. 


THE PROMISE OP MA Y. 


69 


Until he knew Virginia he hated poetry, and used to say 
he could understand a fellow laying down his life for his 
country or his friend, but he could not understand another 
fellow writing rhymes about it. 

As inexplicable to him was the fuss people make about 
the cuckoo ; whose monotonous song only inspired him 
with a desire to wring its neck. 

Virginia and Kitty did not meet the ladies of the Vaughan • 
family until the night of the dinner party, when for some 
inexplicable reason Kitty and Lily took an instinctive dis- 
like to each other, and Virginia immediately settled she had 
nothing in common with Miss Vaughan, while Lottie, who 
never spoke to a lady when there was a man in the room, 
made no attempt to cultivate Miss Willoughby’s acquaint- 
ance, but devoted all her energy to endeavor to charm Mr. 
Barrett. 

But like the deaf adder, which so impolitely stoppeth her 
ears, Mr. Barrett refused to hear the voice of the charmer, 
charmed she never so wisely ; perhaps because Miss Savage 
was present, perhaps because he was never at his ease at 
Greenhouse, and was disinclined to be pleased with any- 
thing or anybody. 

Mrs. Vaughan was very trying on this occasion ; she did 
all those things which she ought not to have done ; she 
asked for “ sherry wine ” at dinner, to the astonishment 
of the old butler who politely corrected her — “ Sherry, 
madam.” 

She introduced her poor dear husband and his epaulettes 
at every pause in the conversation ; she bored Mrs. Wil- 
loughby after dinner with anecdotes of the trouble Lottie 
had with “ the girl,” by whom she meant the servant but 
which Mrs. Willoughby chose to consider was an allusion to 
Lily ; but she reserved the climax of her faux pas till they 
were leaving. 

Mr. Barrett had brought Mrs. Vaughan and Lottie in his 
carriage and was going to drive them home, but to his 
annoyance Mrs. Vaughan made no attempt to leave when 
the carriage was announced. At last after waiting ten 
minutes he told her his horses would not stand and sug- 
gested they should take their leave. 

‘‘ I am only waiting for Mrs. Dawson to rise,” said Mrs. 


70 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


Vaughan. Mrs. Dawson being the wife of the rector of 
Workwell. 

“ My dear mother, if it were the Day of Judgment, I 
believe you would wait for everyone else to rise first ; pray 
let us go, we must not keep Mr. Barrett waiting,” said Lottie. 

“Very cleverly covered,” thought Virginia who over- 
heard both remarks. 

Thus admonished, Mrs. Vaughan at last rose, but needless 
to say, put the finishing touch to her social errors by thank- 
ing “ Mrs. General Willoughby for a very good dinner,” 
although Lottie told her before they came, she was on no 
account to do so. 

“ What a dull evening ! ” said Lottie as they drove off. 

“ They always are dull evenings at Greenhouse ; Mr. 
Dawson is always ten degrees more pompous there than he 
is anywhere else ; and Mrs. Willoughby was nearer related 
to the duke than ever, this evening ; on the other hand 
I never saw Miss Willoughby unbend as she did to your 
brother,” said Mr. Barrett. 

It was not Mr. Dawson’s pomposity, nor Mrs. Wil- 
loughby’s ducal relationship, however, which had made the 
evening seem dull to Lottie, it was the knowledge gradually 
bearing in on her that she was making no progress in the 
siege of Mr. Barrett’s affections. 

They were intimate but they seemed to have reached the 
utmost limit of their intimacy ; probably Mr. Barrett did 
not desire to pass this line, but Lottie had every intention of 
doing so. She had taken great pains with her dress that 
evening, but though Mr. Barrett had admired it, he had 
showed no signs of falling in love with the wearer. 

“ I am not. getting on ; circumstances don’t continue to 
favor me. He likes me, he thinks me clever in some ways, 
he admires me even, but he has no more idea of marrying 
me than I have of marrying Mr. Savage. I don’t believe 
such a thing has ever entered his head ; well, it must enter 
his head, that’s all ; I must put it into his head somehow. 
That’s the pebble with which I, like David, must slay my 
Goliah, there is no doubt about that. Once let it occur to 
him that the best thing he can do is to marry me, and the 
fortress is mine. When and how can I suggest it, that’s the 
question.” 


THE PROMISE OF MAY. 


71 


While Lottie was thus musing, Mrs. Vaughan was dis- 
cussing the Willoughby's with Mr. Barrett, who was bliss- 
fully unconscious of the interest he was exciting in Lottie’s 
mind. 

Before they reached home that young lady had resolved 
on her next move. 

“ I have it, I will try and persuade Miss Savage to give a 
picnic with us ; a picnic is the very thing ; it is informal, 
you can get away from other people ; a tite-h-tHe is easily 
arranged, it affords golden opportunities for love-making. 
A picnic is my next move, and I’ll see that we take some 
champagne. How stupid of me not to have thought of it 
before. I hoped this tea-gown would have done it, it is a 
lovely thing and suits me to perfection, but it has failed 
to achievethe end for which it was created. Never mind ; 
‘ Nil desperandum ’ is my motto. I’ll have a picnic, and at 
the picnic I will contrive to suggest to Mr. Barrett, that my 
little plan for our future is the very best he can make. 
How I shall do it I don't know. Circumstances must 
decide that, but do it I will, or my name may always be 
Lottie Vaughan, which the gods forbid.” 

By the time Lottie reached this point in her meditations, 
Mr. Barrett was handing her out of the carriage, for they had 
reached home. 

The “ promise of May ” brought only hope in her own 
powers to the practical Lottie, hope and a determination to 
work out her own destiny ; she was troubled with no ideal, 
no higher aspirations than to be the wife of a worthy, if 
somewhat commonplace man. The redeeming feature in 
her conduct was, it was for the sake of her family, far more 
than for her own sake, that she desired to marry Mr. Barrett. 

He was personally not particularly attractive to her, but 
his new house and his means made her waive all other con- 
siderations ; and if she were sometimes tempted to contrast 
him, to his disadvantage, with a certain poor but handsome 
officer with whom she had had a desperate flirtation in 
Jersey, whose memory still drew a sigh of regret even from 
the unromantic Lottie, she quickly gave herself a mental 
shake and told herself Mr. Barrett’s good qualities were more 
calculated to make a woman happy than Captain Bruce’s 
divine waltzing and fascinating manners. 


72 


LOTTIE'S WOOING, 


The captain’s image flitted before her mind this May 
evening, but she dismissed it abruptly, once and for all, and 
planned the picnic which was to lure the unconscious 
Barrett to his fate, and when Jack and Lily came home, laid 
her scheme before them, reserving only the part which 
referred to Mr. Barrett. 

“ I wish Mr. Willoughby could come to it. You must ask 
someone for me, Lottie,” said Lily. 

“ Well, my dear child, there are no less than three avail- 
able curates, you can have them all there, if you like.” 

“Well, they are better than no one, but what a pity we 
could not have one or two of the officers over from Jersey, 
since Alec Willoughby can’t come.” 

“ That is impossible, you must be content with the local 
celebrities. I don’t know how many hearts you wish to 
break, Lily, but if you mean to go on with other men as you 
did with Alec Willoughby, you’ll be set down as a desperate 
flirt, and mark this, 'LWy, flirts do not marry said Lottie in 
a tone of awe. 

The “ promise of May ” to Lily meant the promise of many 
lovers, Alec Willoughby among them, perhaps the chief of 
them ; but that he would occupy this position was at present 
by no means certain. She was young and vain and very 
pretty. A coquette by nature, she thirsted for admiration, 
she would not be satisfied till more than one man had fallen 
a victim to her charms. 

Oh, grief for the promise of May, of May, 

Oh, grief for the promise of May. 


CHAPTER VIII. 

SHADOWS OF THE FUTURE. 

“ Coming events cast their shadows before,” says the 
proverb, but fortunately our human eyesight is not keen 
enough to detect them. It takes an artist’s eye to detect 
the more delicate shadows in nature ; it takes a prophet’s 
eye to see the shadows of coming events, and prophets are 
very rare birds. There was not a prophet among the 


SHADOWS OF THE FUTURE. 


73 


merry party which started from The Dell, one late May 
morning, for a picnic, so no one recognized the shadows of 
certain future events which flitted across the scene of the 
picnic. 

Miss Savage had willingly joined Lottie in giving this 
entertainment, the only suggestion she made was that the 
Willoughbys should be invited ; Mrs. Willougby, she knew, 
would not come, but the general and the girls accepted 
the invitation. 

In her heart of hearts Lottie would infinitely rather 
not have had Virginia and Kitty ; she was not at all fond 
of her own sex ; and Virginia, with her queenly air, her 
grave manner and her superior conversation, which usually 
turned on art or literature, of which Lottie knew very little, 
would exercise some constraint even on so familiar an enter- 
tainment as a picnic ; while Kitty Arundel was in Lottie’s 
opinion a nuisance, because being an heiress she would be 
sure to take up the attention of two or three of the gentle- 
men. 

However, she could not object, and the party consisted 
of the Savages, the Vaughans, General Willoughby, his 
daughter and his ward, Mr. Barrett, and the three curates. 

The curates were named respectively Long, Short, and 
Green-Turner ; Mr. Long was a libel on his own name, for 
he was short instead of long ; broad physically and broad 
also in his church views ; he dressed like a layman, wore 
whiskers, played cricket with the laborers of his parish on 
Sundays, and went to balls and theaters whenever hfe had 
the opportunity. 

He was well off, but he spent very little money on himself, 
and lived very simply in two rooms, as happy as a king, but 
for one thing — he was in love with Kitty Arundel and aware 
of her attachment to Alec Willoughby. 

Mr. Green-Turner was curate of Thornleigh, the Wil- 
loughby’s parish ; he was tall, dark, thin, clean shaven, with 
handsome features and an ascetic type of countenance ; 
he was a Ritualist, and as he was careful to give out, also 
a celibate. He was well-born and well-bred and no social 
gathering in the neighborhood was quite complete without 
him. 

He did not go out on Fridays, or vigils, or Ember days. 


74 


LOTTIE'S WOOING, 


or in Advent, or in Lent, so any one desiring Mr. Green- 
Turner’s company was obliged to consult a calendar before 
inviting him, or disappointment would probably ensue. 

Mr. Short was the gentleman who had remonstrated with 
Miss Savage on her spiritual short-comings on a past occa- 
sion ; and was known at serious tea-tables as “ a very 
earnest young man.” 

His most remarkable characteristic was a certain glossi- 
ness ; the cloth of his coat was glossy, his hair was smooth 
and glossy, his face was glossy. He was a good preacher, 
and fond of hearing his own voice on all occasions. 

He and Mr. Green-Turner cordially hated each other, 
but were very intimate with Mr. Long, who had to listen, 
every time he met either of them, to a violent tirade against 
the other. 

The place selected for the picnic was Rosedale, about 
six miles from Workwell, whither the party drove in a break 
with Miss Savage’s scrub and Lottie’s buttons on the 
box. 

Rosedale is one of those charming dales or vales char- 
acteristic of Derbyshire, a narrow winding valley with very 
steep high cliffs on both sides, and a clear shallow stream 
running through it, and rippling musically over the pebbles. 
In places this narrow gulchlike dale threw open its arms and 
opened out into wide stretches of greensward, the hills fell 
back on one side and sloped gradually up to the plain above. 

Rosedale was rich in ferns, which grew in the crevices of 
the rocks, and in wild flowers ; the bluebells were not yet 
over, and by the river the glossy leaves of the wild marsh 
marigold and its golden flowers, the May-bubbles of Derby- 
shire, still shone brilliantly ; the forget-me-not was opening 
its blue eyes to smile on the passers-by, but the flower 
most sought after by the young people was the lily-of-the 
valley, which Miss Savage had told them grew here in 
acres. 

After luncheon the party broke up into twos and threes 
to ramble about till tea, which James and the scrub were 
ordered to have ready at five ; and Mrs. Vaughan remained 
with them to superintend its preparation, Lottie having 
other fish to fry, or at least to catch, for she meant to devote 
her whole time and energies to catching Mr. Barrett. 


SHADOWS OF THE FUTURE. 


75 


During luncheon she and General Willoughby had been 
joking each other, the general had taken a fancy to her, 
and she was always ready to make herself agreeable to 
every man, old or young, whom she came across, so she 
flirted away with the old Indian, teased him and beguiled 
him into eating all sorts of things which his own wife dared 
not have put before him. 

This was all very well, but Lottie had not gone to this 
expense merely to amuse an old married man ; after lunch- 
eon she had something else to attend to. 

As the bee to the flower, as the needle to the magnet, as 
the satellite to its sun, so did every man instinctively wan- 
der off after lunch with the lady most attractive to him. 

“ Society,” says Emerson, “ exists by chemical affinity.” 
So it is, like to like, kindred spirit to kindred spirit, soul 
to soul ; this is society ; mere talk about the weather in a 
stiff circle is a troublesome superfluous fringe on society’s 
garment. 

The conventional laws of modern society bind its mem- 
bers as hard and fast as the scaly armor of the serpent 
binds the hands and feet of the creature within its folds ; 
but at a picnic a certain liberty is allowed, and the enfran- 
chised guest may spread his wings and fly away with some 
soul akin to his own, for a while at least. 

On this occasion, Virginia went off with Jack Vaughan 
and Mr. Savage, followed closely by Kitty and Mr Long. 
Mr. Green-Turner and Mr. Short, each wishing to annihil- 
ate the other, went off to gather lilies with pretty Lily 
Vaughan, who flirted desperately with both of them. Mr. 
Short had confided to her that Mr. Green-Turner was a 
celibate, and explained what this meant to her, and she 
thereupon resolved to try and test the strength of his res- 
olution. 

Mr. Barrett succeeded in getting a little tHe-h-tite with 
Marion Savage, but Lottie soon overtook them with the 
general. Her next move was to dispose of Miss Savage 
and the general, and get Barrett to herself. 

“ Does not the oak fern grow in those cliffs ? ” she 
asked, pointing to the steep rocks on the other side of the 
river. 

“ Yes, but you can’t cross the river here^ there is a stone 


76 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


bridge a mile further on ; but the oak fern grows in rather 
inaccessible places and is difficult to get,” said Miss Savage. 

“ 1 don’t mind that. I can climb like a goat. It is too 
far to ask you to come, dear Miss Savage, but, Mr. Barrett, 
will you come with me ? General Willoughby will take 
care of Miss Savage till we come back, I am sure.” 

Mr. Barrett had not much choice in the matter, but he 
had no objection to be obliging. Lottie was capital com- 
pany, so off they started and she took care they did not 
rejoin the others till tea-time. 

“You may take a horse to water but you can’t make him 
drink,” says the proverb, and in this vain attempt to accom- 
plish the impossible Lottie spent the afternoon. She took 
her horse to water, but not all her powers of persuasion 
could induce him to drink. 

She flattered him as openly as she dared. She made lead- 
ing remarks on the loneliness of his life, particularly when 
he came to live in his new mansion. She even infused 
a slightly sentimental tone into the conversation, but all in 
vain, the fish would not bite, the horse would not drink 
a drop. 

She was returning to the others in despair, with plenty of 
oak fern which she did not want, but not a particle of hope 
of winning the man she was determined to marry when cir- 
cumstances once more favored her. 

They had crossed the river by the bridge Miss Savage 
had spoken of, in going for the oak fern, then they had 
wandered back past the place in which they had lunched, in 
search of another bridge to return by, which Mr. Barrett 
knew of, but which turned out to be further off than he 
thought. 

On crossing it they came upon a gypsy’s camp about half 
a mile from their trysting place ; this revived Lottie’s 
flagging spirits ; she saw a way of advancing her prospects 
and she determined to adopt it. 

“ Oh, how lovely ! here are some gypsies ; we will have 
our fortunes told,” she exclaimed. 

“ You shall, if you like ; but my fortune is made,” said 
Barrett, who was not given to wasting money. 

“ I mean to have mine told, but not now. The other 
girls are sure to want theirs told, so I will ask this gypsy 


SHADOWS OF THE FUTURE. 


77 


woman to come up after tea. Go on slowly, and I’ll over- 
take you.” 

Mr. Barrett obeyed and Lottie went up to the gypsy and 
accosted her, asking her what she would charge to tell their 
fortunes. 

“ Half a crown apiece, lady ! ” 

“ Nonsense, my good woman, one shilling each, you 
mean. We are about half a mile off, and if you come to 
us in half an hour’s time you shall have one shilling each 
for the others, and half a crown for mine if you tell me what 
I want.” 

“Could you give any particulars of the gentleman, my 
lady ? Is he rather short and fair, with a beard, and is he 
a good deal older than you ? ” 

“ Yes,” said Lottie with a start at the woman’s acuteness, 
for she had evidently noticed George Barrett. 

“ And is he dying for love of you ? ” 

Lottie nodded. 

“ And shall I tell ye ye’ll marry him or no ?” 

“ Say I’ll marry him, and have no more to do with the 
dark officer over the seas.” 

“ All right, lady. I’ll see it all written in the palm of 
your little hand,” said the woman with a knowing look. 

“ Providence, I am sure, sent that woman here, now. I’ll 
take care he hears it all ; that must put the idea into 
his head. The gypsy shall sow the seed. I’ll water it, and it 
is bound to bear fruit,” thought Lottie, as she hurried after 
Barrett, who had just fallen in with Virginia and Kitty, Jack 
and Mr. Long. 

The sight of the gypsy’s caravan had excited Virginia 
almost more than it had Lottie, but in a very different way. 
It had inspired her with a desire to spend the summer 
traveling about England in a gypsy’s van, and she had 
fired Jack with a similar ambition. 

“ You have been speaking to those happy gypsy people. 
Miss Vaughan ; you can’t think how I envy them,” said 
Virginia. 

“ What do you envy them ? Their power of seeing into 
the future? ” asked Mr. Barrett. 

“Oh, dear, no; I have no faith in such superstitious 
nonsense as fortune-telling. I should love their life, though, 


78 


LOTTIE'S WOOING, 


at any rate for a few months ; it would be delightful to get 
away from everybody and travel about in one of their vans 
for the summer.” 

“ I will come with you to drive and look after the horses 
if you will let me,” said Jack. 

“ Kitty, dear, do you think we could persuade them to 
let us do it ? We could take Sanders to cook for us and to 
appease Mrs. Grundy.” 

“ I hope you would let me come, too, to help Mr. 
Vaughan with the horses,” said Mr. Long. 

“ No, that would never do. He is only a boy, so he would 
not matter,” said Kitty in an undertone to her admirer. 

“ Think of the sights we should see ; the sunrises and 
sunsets, the cloud effects, the morning mists, the wild 
flowers, the scenery. Dear me, we should start as ordinary 
beings and come back poets and artists,” exclaimed Vir- 
ginia, still enthusiastic as they joined the tea party. 

“ I never heard that gypsies were either poets or artists,” 
said Mr. Barrett. 

“ That is only because they don’t correspond to their 
environment ; they ought to be both,” said Virginia. 

“ My dear Virginia, you expect too much from them ; 
you imagine because you have an artistic nature and a 
poetical temperament, everyone else is endowed with the 
same fatal gifts. Mere environment won’t develop an artist 
or a poet, unless there is within its reach an artist’s or a 
poet’s soul to develop,” said Miss Savage. 

“ I am sure I should not come back a poet if I went with 
you, nor an artist, neither,” said Lottie. 

“ It would not be a game you would care to play at, 
Lottie,” said Jack. 

“ What does Miss Lily think of the proposal ?” said Mr. 
Barrett. 

Miss Lily was too much absorbed in making a wreath of 
lilies-of-the-valley from the spoils Mr. Green-Turner and 
Mr. Short had gathered to hear the question. 

“ Sabrina fair, 

Listen where thou art sitting 
Under the grassy, cool, translucent wave, 

In twisted braids of lilies knitting 
The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair*’' 


SHADOWS OF THE FUTURE, 79 

quoted Mr. Short, who thought Milton the finest poet in 
the world, and knew him well. 

“ My hair is not amber, it is golden,” said Lily, as she 
placed the finished wreath on her pretty head. 

“ A very appropriate quotation, who can cap it ? ” said 
Miss Savage. 

“To gild refined gold, to paint the lily, 

To throw perfection on the violet 
Is wasteful and ridiculous excess,” 

quoted Virginia. 

“ There, Lily, you deserved that,” said Jack with frater- 
nal frankness. 

“ Mr. Short painted the lily and talked nonsense about 
my hair, not I,” said Lily. 

“ I did not mean to be personal. I only wanted a quota- 
tion to cap Mr. Short’s, and that was the first which occurred 
to me,” said Virginia gently, for Lily’s beauty attracted 
her and she was disposed to like her much better than 
Lottie. 

“ Here comes the gypsy. I should like to have my for- 
tune told if anyone else will,” said Kitty. 

“ I will,” said Lily, jumping up. 

“ So shall I, but I shall have mine told here publicly 
when you two come back,” said Lottie, as Lily, Kitty, and 
the gypsy moved away. 

This move disconcerted the curates, and led to a very 
stormy argument between Mr. Green-Turner and Mr. Short 
as to the sinfulness of dabbling in witchcraft, in which they 
both appealed constantly to Mr. Long. Mr. Green-Turner 
declared it was very wrong and distinctly forbidden by the 
Church ; Mr. Short denied this and wanted to know what 
Church Mr. Green-Turner alluded to. This opened up a 
very wide question and the argument grew so hot that 
everyone was glad when Lottie created a diversion. 

“ Now, Mr. Short, please stop talking, I want you all to 
listen to my fortune. I am going to have it told publicly 
for the amusement of the company, so I hope you’ll appre- 
ciate my kindness and listen,” said Lottie as she held out 
her hand to the gypsy, who had returned with Lily and 
Kitty. 


So 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


“ It is a very good fortune, fair lady. You’ll live to be 
rich and drive about in your own carriage,” began the 
gipsy. 

‘‘ Why, that’s the same as mine,” interrupted Lily. 

“ Perhaps our beloved cousin is going off the hooks before 
his father,” said Jack. 

“ Oh ! be quiet, you two, and don’t interrupt,” said Lottie. 

“ There is a rich gentleman dying for the love of you,” 
continued the gipsy. 

“ Dear me, I wish I had the pleasure of his acquaintance. 
What is he like ? ” said Lottie. 

“ He is not very young ; he is middle-aged.” 

“ Oh ! I don’t mind that a bit.” 

“ He is fair.” 

“ That’s good, I like fair men.” 

He wears a beard.” 

“Umph ! Well, perhaps I could induce him to shave it 
off.” 

“ He is not tall, and he is rather stout.” 

“ Oh ! dear, I hope he is not fat, but he might be put on 
the Banting system.” 

“ He is strong and broad, and he is very rich, and he is 
building a beautiful house for you to live in,” said the gipsy. 

This last remark was too much even for Lottie’s sang 
froid. The woman was going beyond her bargain, and had 
evidently informed herself as to Mr. Barrett’s name and es- 
tate in the interim between Lottie’s conversation with her 
and the present time. 

As a matter of fact, the clever gypsy had obtained her 
information with regard to Mr. Barrett from Lily, when tell- 
ing her fortune, by means of a little judicious questioning. 
It was evident to everyone to whom the woman alluded, 
and there was a general laugh at Mr. Barrett’s expense, 
while Mr. Green-Turner, who had a lurking faith in fortune- 
telling, disapproved more than ever of the proceedings. 

“ Well, I have heard enough about this fair Croesus, have 
I no other admirers ? ” said Lottie. 

“ Yes, lady, there is a tall, dark, handsome officer over the 
seas who is very fond of you, and I am not sure that you 
don’t return his love, but you’ll marry the fair gentleman one 
of these days.” 


s/zadoh^s of the future. Bi 

Oh, dear, I don’t call mine a good fortune at all, to 
love one man and marry another,” said Lottie, with a little 
sigh as she got up with flushed cheeks and strolled away 
from the party, ostensibly to see after the horses, really to 
waylay the gypsy and pay her the promised half-crown. 

“Well, who else is going to have their fortune told ?” 
said General Willoughby, who as a J. P. rather delighted in 
countenancing an illegal practice, particularly as it scandal- 
ized Mr, Green-Turner, for whom the general had a fierce 
contempt. 

“ Miss Willoughby, please have yours told. I am sure 
yours will be a grand fortune,” said Lily. 

“ If it will please you, I will, but I have not a scrap of 
faith in it. If gypsies could tell fortunes, what fortunes they 
would make for themselves ; they could ask what terms they 
liked and all the world would flock to them. No science, 
no history, nothing could interest us poor blind mortals so 
much as our own future lives,” said Virginia. 

“ Thank God, they are hidden from us, for very few of us 
could bear to know the future,” said Miss Savage sadly. 

“And it is the unexpected which happens,” said Virginia 
as the gypsy crossed her palm with silver. 

Virginia paid very little attention to the nonsense the 
woman pretended to see written on the palm of her hand, 
but she questioned her about her life in the caravan ; asking 
her how she liked it, where she came from, where she was 
going, how she lived ; to all which questions the woman 
returned but very vague answers, being endowed with the 
reticence of her tribe, for she was a true gypsy. 

No one felt any interest in this except Jack, who 
lingered behind with Virginia while all the others moved 
toward the carriage. Mr. Savage, to Lottie’s annoyance, 
had followed her and stuck to her like a leech, and not all 
her efforts could avail to get rid of him before the gypsy, 
who had not lost sight of Lottie, came to claim her reward. 

“ How annoying ! However, I don’t suppose he will see 
how much I give her, and he certainly will never guess why 
I give her anything,” said Lottie to herself as she slipped 
the half-crown into the gypsy’s hand. 

She was wrong in both suppositions. Mr. Savage saw what 
she gave and not only guessed, but resolved that the very 


82 


LOTTIE'S WOO INC. 


first opportunity he would tell Mr. Barrett. He had owed 
Lottie a grudge since she went over Barrett’s house without 
telling him, as she had promised to do ; he had also dis- 
covered that Lottie was setting her cap at Mr. Barrett, and 
he was determined to prevent her from marrying him, if 
possible. 

He would have liked to have George Barrett, whom he 
knew loved Marion, for his son-in-law ; but now Lottie had 
unconsciously made him her enemy, he was resolved that she, 
at least, should never become Mrs. Barrett if he could pre- 
vent it ; so Lottie had a hidden force, upon which she had 
not calculated, and of whose existence she was unconscious, 
to overcome as well as all the other obstacles which blocked 
her path. 

Ignorant of Mr. Savage’s feelings with regard to her, and 
not giving him credit for interpreting her conduct rightly, 
she went home very well satisfied with her day’s work. 

The seed had been sown. The idea had been put into 
Mr. Barrett’s head ; he would never suspect that the gypsy 
was merely a tool of Lottie’s ; it would certainly give him 
food for meditation ; he was bound to think of it, Lottie 
argued, and if once he thought about it, why half the work 
was done. Time, patience, and her own wits must achieve 
the rest. 


CHAPTER IX. 

THE WELL-DRESSING. 

The wells of Derbyshire are mineral springs which ebb and 
flow. Sometimes they are very active, at others they are 
reduced to a mere gentle dripping ; they are generally 
enclosed in stone basins or fonts, more or less decorated. 
The ancient custom of dressing them with flowers and gar- 
lands on certain days is still observed ; and the well near 
Miss Savage’s house, whose waters were supposed to be good 
for weak eyes, was duly dressed as usual on Whitmonday. 

“ I don’t know what you girls propose doing this afternoon, 
but if you take my advice you’ll stop at home,” said Jack 
Vaughan at luncheon on Whitmonday. 


THE WELL-DRESStNG, S3 

He knew very well his sisters would not take his advice, 
but he had his own reasons for offering it. 

“ Why should we stop at home ? ” said Lottie. 

“ Because the place is overrun with excursionists from 
Sheffield and Rotherham. I never saw such a mob.” 

“ They are only people come to see the well-dressing, and 
and a few country folk with weak eyes come to get some of 
the water. Lil and I are going up to the Eye- well this 
afternoon ; you had better come with us and take care of 
us,” said Lottie. 

‘‘No, thanks ; it is too much of a fag and it is very hot. 
Besides, I am like Green-Turner, I think it wrongto encour- 
age superstition,” said Jack. 

“ Nonsense, Jack. Why won’t you come ? I dare say your 
dear Miss Willoughby will be there.” 

“ I dare say she won’t. She told me they never go beyond 
their own grounds on Whitmonday.” 

“ That’s why you don’t want us to go, I suppose. Miss 
Willoughby can please herself ; I am certainly going, so is 
Lottie,” said Lily. 

Jack knew well enough why Lily was so anxious to go to 
the well-dressing. He knew she was going to see Alec 
Willoughby, who had planned the meeting the day Jack 
had been a prisoner in the sofa, and had unwillingly heard 
the conversation, in which it was arranged that he should 
appear disguised, but with a shamrock in his buttonhole. 

Lottie went partly to oblige Lily, partly out of curiosity 
to see the well-dressing : they started about half-past three ; 
the time Alec had appointed to meet them was four o’clock. 
As they went Lily wondered how he would be disguised, 
and if she would be sure to recognize him. 

“ Suppose there should be two men with shamrocks in 
their buttonholes, Lottie.” 

“ It is not in the least likely, so I can’t suppose anything 
so improbable,” said Lottie as they reached the open space 
surrounded by shrubs, in the center of which the Eye-well 
stood. 

Like many of the Derbyshire wells, it was more like a 
fountain than a well, and rose like a small fountain in the 
center of an old stone basin, which was raised on two stone 
steps, these steps and the basin were now covered with 


84 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


moss on which were laid cut roses and rose-buds in a sort 
of mosaic pattern. Garlands of flowers made chiefly of 
flowering shrubs of laburnum or golden-rain, guelder-roses 
or Whitsuntide-bosses, lilacs, and pink may were hung round 
the enclosure ; and there was a stall covered with colored 
cambric at which sat an old woman selling bottles of eye- 
water drawn from the well. A motley crowd, composed 
partly of country people, partly of excursionists, kept coming 
and going, but as Lottie remarked to Lily, “ Nobody, who 
was anybody, was there except themselves.” 

“ Do you see anybody with a shamrock, Lottie ? ” 

“ Not yet, but it is scarcely four o’clock ; we are early.” 

“ Oh ! I hope he’ll come. I shall be angry if we have 
walked all this way in this heat for nothing. And I hope 
he won’t be dressed very oddly ; if he is, I think I shall cut 
him,” said Lily anxiously. 

“ And I am quite sure you won’t.” 

“ Oh, Lottie ! There’s a creature over there with a 
shamrock in his coat, but he looks more like a merry- 
andrew than anything else. Surely that can’t be Alec 
Willoughby ? ” 

“ Where ? ” 

Lily pointed to a man, with bright red hair and whiskers, 
dressed in tight corduroy breeches, and gaiters, a velveteen 
coat, a blue tie, and a very old beaver hat worn very much 
on one side ; he also wore an eye-glass in one eye and 
carried a shillelah in his hand ; he was altogether a very 
disreputable-looking fellow, and certainly not the sort of 
man a lady would care to be seen with, but he wore a sham- 
rock in his buttonhole and Lily never for one moment 
doubted it was Alec. 

He had told her he should be disguised ; he had also 
told her the risk he ran in coming ; still she could not 
help wishing he had chosen a more gentlemanly cos- 
tume. 

“ There he is,” said Lily. 

“ I see, but that man looks rather too broad and not 
quite tall enough for Alec,” said Lottie. 

“ But he has a shamrock. There can’t be two men with 
a shamrock, you said so yourself, just now. I am sure it is 
he. What must I do ? ” 


TME WELL-DRES^tNG. ^5 

You can do as you like, but if you mean to walk through 
Workwell with him, please excuse me.” 

“ I am not going through the town. I am only going to 
take him home to tea. Do come with me, Lottie,” said 
Lily. 

“ Not I. I shall lose you both, if you are going with that 
merry-andrew,” said Lottie as the man drew near and raised 
his hat to Lily. 

“ Is it you ? ” said Lily. 

‘‘ Yes, mavourneen. Don’t you recognize the sham- 
rock ? ” said a voice which Lily at once recognized as 
Alec’s. 

“ I should never have known you. Why did you get 
yourself up such a guy ? ” 

“ I daren’t risk being seen by any of my people ; they are 
not likely to be here, but I might meet them on my way to 
or from the station. Do you mind very much being seen 
with me ? ” 

“ No — o — o — ” said Lily doubtfully. 

“ Look here, lets get out of this mob,. and make our way 
through the lanes to your place ; we shan’t meet anyone 
there and we can dawdle as long as we like. As I have 
come a hundred and fifty miles to see you, I should like to 
have a little time to ourselves.” 

Lily agreed to this plan, and on looking round they 
saw Lottie had already disappeared, so they had an hour’s 
tete-h-tete before they chose to reach The Cottage for 
tea. 

Afterward on thinking over that walk Lily remembered 
she had done most of the talking ; and whether it was 
the disguise, or whether she was getting tired of Alec, 
somehow he did not strike her as half so fascinating as he 
used to be. She was conscious of this at the time, and 
what with the heat, and the dread of meeting someone she 
knew, she was not sorry when they got home. 

“ What a hot day. I should think you must be melted in 
that wig. Won’t you be glad of some tea ? ” said Lily as 
the grandfather clock in the hall struck five. 

I should like something else first,” said Alec, trying to 
steal a kiss, but Lily wriggled away. 

“ Don’t. Behave properly. I must prepare Lottie and 


86 


LOTTIES WOOING, 


mother for you,” said Lily, opening the drawing room door 
and so cutting short any further love passages. 

“ Mother, here is Mr. Willoughby. You would never 
know him, but he is forbidden to come to Workwell, so he 
was obliged to disguise himself,” continued Lily as she 
ushered her admirer in. 

“ Mr. Willoughby ! Law, my dear, what a sight he has 
made of himself ?” exclaimed Mrs. Vaughan pulling off her 
glasses and looking up at him. 

“ Mr. Willoughby ! Why, you goose of geese, Lily, it is 
Jack,” exclaimed Lottie. 

A roar of laughter from that wicked Jack, as he tore off 
his whiskers and wig and revealed his own boyish face, 
confirmed the truth of Lottie’s remark. 

It was indeed Jack. The temptation to play a trick on 
Lily had been too great to be resisted, and he had suc- 
ceeded beyond his expectations, though he had taken in- 
finite pains to succeed. Lily, however, saw no joke in it, 
and while Lottie and Mrs. Vaughan joined Jack in a hearty 
laugh, Lily between anger and disappointment was so 
vexed that she burst into tears. 

“ You odious boy, how dare you deceive me like this ?” 
she sobbed. 

“ My dear child, how could you be so silly as to be de- 
ceived? Is it my fault if I resemble the handsome and 
incomparable Willoughby so strongly that even my own 
sister does not know me from him ? ” asked Jack. 

“ You are a horrid, unkind boy. Now it is too late, it is 
past five, Alec will have been and gone, he will think I was 
not there, that I had forgotten it, or that I was a little 
brute and let him come a hundred and fifty miles for noth- 
ing. Perhaps he will be found out too, after all, and be 
ruined all through you. I hate you. Jack, that I do,” and 
Lily stamped her little foot in a pet. 

“ Hush ! Don’t let your evil passions rise. It is very 
wicked to hate your brother, we ought to love our brethren, 
you know,” said Jack, in a teasing tone. 

“ Don’t tease the child. Jack. It really was too bad of 
you, though I could not help laughing. I can’t understand 
you being so*taken in, Lil ; I told you it was not tall enough 
for Alec at the well,” said Lottie. 


THE WELL-DRESSING. 


87 


“ It was the shamrock,” sobbed Lily. 

“ Well, don’t cry ; perhaps he’ll come in here to tea,” 
said Mrs. Vaughan. 

“ I don’t care what he does. I am crying because Jack 
is so horribly unkind to me.” * 

“ Of course she is, mother. Willoughby has nothing to 
do with it ; it is all my cruelty. Never mind, Lil, I’ll write 
and tell him you mistook me for him, that will console 
him.” 

“ No, you won’t ; I shall write myself,” said Lily, leaving 
the room for that purpose. 

You little know how I have been longing for this day 
to come, Lottie ; I have succeeded beyond my expectations, 
I have realized my ideal,” said Jack, when Lily was gone. 

“ A very ugly being your ideal must be then, that’s all I 
can say. Where did you get the clothes from ? ” asked 
Lottie. 

“ Barrett lent me most of them.” 

“ Surely you did not tell him Alec was coming here ; he 
will tell Miss Savage and she’ll tell the Willoughbys,” 
exclaimed Lottie. 

“ No fear. I told Barrett nothing. But, I say, Lottie, 
Willoughby can never marry Lily, they have neither of 
them a penny ; what’s the use of therir going on like this ? ” 

“ My dear boy, don’t ask me. All I know is Lily seems 
to have set her heart on having him, and I hope he means 
to be true to her ; they must wait, he will have money some 
day, that’s all,” said Lottie aloud. 

“ If I were only married to George Barrett I might help 
them,” she added to herself. 

Matters between Lottie and George Barrett were, how- 
ever, still in statu quo. The seed sown by the gypsy, as far 
as Lottie could tell, had fallen on the rock and had taken 
no root ; indeed, she was beginning to fear he had not seen 
the gypsy’s allusion to himself, which was so plain to every- 
body else ; and she racked her clever brains to think of 
some device to make the seed bear fruit. 

“ I’d get up an illness and make mother or Lily tell him 
the doctor thought I was in love with somebody, only we 
can’t afford a doctor’s bill. At present all I can do is to 
wait patiently, look my best, meet him as often as possible, 


88 


LOTTIES WOOING. 


be as charming as possible when we do meet, and leave the 
rest to Heaven, where they say marriages are made. If I 
could only know how he took the gypsy’s suggestion.” 

George Barrett was too reserved a man for anyone to 
know that. He had sat perfectly calm and collected while 
Lottie’s fortune was being told, and not even Marion 
Savage, who could read his face so well, knew if he guessed 
to whom the gypsy was alluding or not. 

That same evening he went home to dinner after the 
picnic with the Savages, and when Miss Savage was out of 
the room, Mr. Savage said to him : 

“ I say, Barrett, you had better look out or you’ll be 
caught.” 

“ By whom ? ” said Barrett, carefully examining his nails. 

By Miss Lottie Vaughan. She is a very dangerous 
young lady,” said Mr. Savage. 

“ Think so ? ” 

“ I am sure of it. Look here, Barrett. Don’t say I told 
you, but she bribed that gypsy to tell her you were in love 
with her,” said Mr. Savage confidentially. 

Mr. Barrett started. 

“You must be mistaken, surely.’’ 

“ Not I. She gave the gypsy half a crown in my pres- 
ence, and I am certain they had agreed beforehand what 
the woman should say. What do you think of that ? ” 

“ I think she a deuced clever woman. I always have 
thought so,” said Barrett, and more than that Mr. Savage 
could not elicit, but his manner to Lottie was exactly the 
same as before, there was not a shade of difference in it. 

It was no doubt a dangerous game that Lottie was play- 
ing, and perhaps she underestimated the skill of her adver- 
sary ; for lookers-on who were equally well acquainted with 
the two opponents might have been inclined to back the 
gentleman against the lady. At any rate it was a game 
worth watching. 


FOR ALECS SAKE. 


89 


CHAPTER X. 

FOR alec’s sake. 

The clocks of Workwell had not struck four when Lily 
Vaughan and her disguised brother left the scene of the 
well-dressing ; ten minutes later a tall, good-looking man 
in clerical costume, very correctly disguised with long coat, 
high waistcoat, Roman collar and low, soft felt hat, wearing a 
long, fair beard, and a shamrock in his coat, strolled on to 
the ground and looked eagerly round the crowd as if in 
search of someone. 

For an hour and a half this gentleman kicked his heels 
about the open space which surrounded the well, exciting 
the curiosity of the local people who were present, who 
wondered who the strange clergyman was. At last his 
decreasing stock of patience was exhausted and Alec Wil- 
loughby,. for he it was, left the place in a fury. 

He had come a hundred and fifty miles on a fool’s 
errand ; that little coquette, Lily, had either forgotten all 
about her promise to meet him, or had willfully brought 
him all this way merely to mock him ; and he walked away 
muttering some very unclerical imprecations as he went. 

He was hot and tired, and there was no train for nearly 
two hours, so partly to kill time and partly in the charitable 
desire to spite the offending Lily, he determined to walk 
home and see if he could catch a glimpse of Kitty in the 
gardens or grounds. If he were fortunate enough to do 
so, how delighted the poor little thing would be, and if she 
chose to imagine he had come all this distance, and run the 
risk of being discovered by his father, on her account, why, 
it would please her, and he could not bear to contradict 
her. 

Thus thinking, he strolled through the meadow in which 
Jack had helped Virginia and Kitty on a former occasion, 
and then through the wood by a side path which brought him 
out into another field some hundred feet below the grounds 
of Greenhouse, opposite the old stone pulpit. 

Virginia was sitting in the pulpit reading, with a little 
black and tan terrier on her lap, when suddenly a well- 


90 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


known whistle, which the dog immediately recognized, 
caused her to look up from her book. At first she saw 
no one, but on leaning over the side of the ivy-grown stone 
ruin, she beheld a man in clerical dress, about two hundred 
feet below, looking up at her. 

She had never seen the man before to her knowledge, 
but the dog, which had leapt down the steep pitch through 
the brushwood, was whining and fawning at his feet, so it 
could not be a stranger. On seeing her look up, Alec 
whistled again and signed to Virginia, who now guessed 
it was he, to come to him. 

It is Alec, I believe. Oh ! how foolish of him,*’ she 
muttered to herself as she threw down her book and picked 
her way carefully down the steep rough path, which only 
she and Alec ever ventured to use. 

“ Vi, don’t you know me ? ” said Alec when she reached 
him. 

“Alec! How dared you do it? What would become 
of you if father knew you were here,” said Virginia throw- 
ing her arms round her brother’s neck. 

“ I don’t mean him to know it.” 

“ You dear ridiculous boy, you ; where on earth did you 
get your costume from ? ” 

“ I borrowed it without asking leave of our chaplain. 
Where is Kitty ?” 

“ Indoors with mother.” 

“And where’s the Bhap ? ” said Alec, who frequently called 
the general by the Hindustanee word for father. 

“ Prowling about the premises ; let us hope he won’t see 
us. He is not likely to do so as he does not often go into 
the pulpit.” 

“ Can’t you let Kitty know I am here, Vi ? ” said Alec 
presently, after they had talked for a little while. 

“ No, Alec, dear, I daren’t do that,” said Virginia 
decidedly. 

“ Little goose, why wasn’t she sitting with you ? How 
is she ? ” said Alec. 

“ She frets a good deal for you.” 

“ There is no use in fretting,” said Alec irritably. 

“ So I tell her ; but she is desperately in love with you, 
Alec, dear,” 


FOR ALEC'S SALLE. 


91 


“ There is not much use in that either. The Bhdp will 
never give his consent.” 

“ Kitty will marry you without it when she is of age,” 
said Virginia. 

This was not precisely what Alec desired ; if that little 
coquette, Lily Vaughan, jilted him, he might perhaps marry 
Kitty out of pique, but otherwise he had no intention of 
doing so. 

“ Alec,” said Virginia, putting a hand on each of Alec’s 
shoulders and looking straight into his eyes, “ you know 
the French proverb about there being always one who loves, 
and one who permits himself to be loved ; teJl me, are you 
really very much in love with Kitty, or do you only let your- 
self be loved by her ? ” 

Alec hesitated, he longed to tell his sister the truth, but 
he dared not face the scorn he knew she would feel if he 
confessed he was not true to Kitty. 

“ Why do you ask ? Don’t you think to come such 
a journey as this, and run such a risk for the chance of half 
an hour’s interview, is a pretty strong proof of love?” 

Well, yes, I suppose it is ; but somehow I always think 
the love is more on Kitty’s side than yours. She is a sweet 
little thing, and would lay down her life for you, I believe ; 
it would go very hard with her if anything happened to 
separate you from her. Already it is telling on her 
health.” 

“ Don’t let her fret, Vi, tell her it is no good and only 
vexes me. You’ll tell her I have been here to-day, of 
course ?” 

“ No, I don’t think I shall, it would grieve her so to have 
missed seeing you. Oh, I do hope no one has recognized 
you.” 

“ No fear ; why, you would not have known me if it had 
not been for Vic ! I must be off now, or I shall miss the 
train. Good-by, Vi.” 

“ Good-by, darling,” said Virginia, throwing her arms 
round his neck and kissing him affectionately. 

One more kiss, that’s for Kitty,” said Alec, and then 
they separated, Virginia climbing back up the steep path 
into the garden while Alec disappeared in the wood. 

Often before had Virginia climbed that path with light 


92 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


heart and light step ; but never again was she destined to 
do so as the happy, light-hearted girl who had never known 
real sorrow, that she now was. 

The worst suffering Virginia had yet experienced was 
that chafing against the trivial round of daily life and its 
humdrum duties and pleasures which young people, with 
little to do and plenty of superfluous energy to work off, are 
apt to feel. It is one of the trials of youth and not one to 
be ignored, for it is real in proportion to the strength of 
the nature which suffers on the one hand, and to the lack 
of definite employment on the other. 

It is not the poor only, who suffer from want of work, the 
rich suffer from it also, but in a different way. Now 
Virginia was never idle, she made employment for herself, 
but still she often felt there was at present no special place 
prepared for her to fill in the economy of the universe ; if 
she were to die, no one except Kitty would really miss her 
very much ; so she thought, and with the thought would 
arise the wish that something would happen to disturb the 
monotony of life. 

There is no wish so certain to be gratified ; no wish so 
often terribly regretted when fulfilled. 

The something wished-for happens, and we would give the 
world, if we had it to give, to have back the unconsciously 
happy days before that something, occurred ; but they can 
never come again, never ; happier, richer, fuller joys may be 
in store for us, but never the same old careless, monotonous 
days of youth. 

No thought of anything out of the common happening to 
her disturbed Virginia, as she strolled leisurely up the hill- 
side thinking of Alec and smiling to herself at his disguise, 
when to her amazement, as she came out of the shrubbery, 
she saw her father in the pulpit seated on the seat she had so 
recently left. 

His cheeks were purple with rage, his fierce eyes flashed 
with anger under his heavy brows, and as usual, when he was 
in a temper, he stammered. Now General Willoughby was 
in his heart of hearts secretly afraid of his daughter, and 
though unable to control his temper in her presence, he 
generally ordered her out of the way when about to indulge 
in an outburst. Once only in her life before had Virginia 


FOR ALECS SAICE. 


93 


been the victim of an outbreak, and that was when, as a little 
child, she had silently borne the blame for something of which 
Alec had really been guilty. 

Never had the general so completely lost control of him- 
self as he now did ; but to do him justice the provocation 
was very great. He had just seen the queenly Virginia, the 
pride of his life, whom he believed incapable of doing any- 
thing underhand, who had hitherto kept all admirers at a 
respectful distance — he had just seen her in the arms of a 
lover ; he had seen her clandestinely meeting a man of 
whose very name and existence he was ignorant. 

And this man was a parson, a High-church parson. 
General Willoughby had many prejudices, but the most 
violent of all was a prejudice against the clergy in general 
and the High-church clergy in particular. A fox-hunting 
parson or a sporting parson he could tolerate, but if an 
unhappy curate ventured to wear high waistcoats and Roman 
collars out of the church, and colored stoles in church, the 
general immediately set him down as a Papist in disguise, 
and if not deserving the stake at least, only fit to be a butt 
for the general’s fiercest sarcasm. 

For this reason he was barely civil to Mr. Green-Turner, 
who constantly roused his anger by turning his back to the 
congregation or turning to the east, or wearing what the 
general called colored ribbons, or putting a few more flowers 
than usual into the church, or amusing himself in other 
equally harmless practices. 

Now to find his paragon Virginia was no wiser than other 
girls, and shared what he considered a most foolish pre- 
ference for blacks coats instead of red ones, drove the 
general beside himself with rage. 

If he had had a gun in his hand, he would, no doubt, have 
had a shot at the supposed parson, whom he blamed more 
than he did Virginia ; and if he could have met him face to 
face, the unfortunate Alec would have had a warm greeting. 
This being impossible the brunt of his anger fell on 
Virginia. 

For obvious reasons some of the flowers of speech with 
which the general adorned his remarks must be omitted 
here ; the following is a chastened form of his remon- 
strances : 


94 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


‘‘What the plague do — do — do you mean by behaving in 
this dis — dis — disgusting manner ? What do you mean by 
ma — ma — making clandestine ap — ap — appointments with 
a sweetheart like — like — like some housemaid ?” 

“ I have no sweetheart, as you call him,” said Virginia 
haughtily, standing before her angry father. 

“ No sweetheart ! God bless me ! Didn’t I see you in 
the ras — ras — rascal’s arms a min— min — minute ago ? If 
he is — is — is not your sweetheart who the deu — deu — deuce 
is he ? Is he your husband ? If you are capable of clan- 
destine me — me — meeting, you are capable of a clandes- 
tine mar — mar — marriage. What’s the — the — the rascal’s 
name ? ” 

“I decline to say,” said Virginia. 

“ Be — be — be careful, don’t put me out of tern — tern — 
temper, madam. Who is this con — confounded scoundrel 
who sneaks up here to — to — to court my daughter ? ” roared 
the general. 

“ I cannot tell you, father,” said Virginia. 

“ Can’t ! You— you must, you shall. Tell me this ve — 
ve — very moment or you leave my house forever. You 
shall be no more a daughter of mine, you shall never call 
me father again ; I — I will know who he is, or I — I re — 
re — renounce you forever ! ” 

“ You can do so. I am quite ready to go away this even- 
ing if you like, but no power on earth shall extract that 
gentleman’s name from my lips,” said Virginia, trembling 
with suppressed emotion. 

Never had she looked handsomer or in some ways 
sweeter than she now did, as she threw down the gauntlet 
to her father, for the sense of shielding Alec and sacrificing 
herself for him gave a tenderness to her eyes and to the 
firmly closed lips. 

“ Begad, you shall go. Am I, who have commanded a 
regiment of men, to be thwarted and defied by a mere girl ? 
I repeat it and I mean it. Unless you answer me directly, 
and confess who that scoundrel is, and swear to give him 
up, you leave my house and you don’t enter it again until 
I receive a proper apology, and you give a satisfactory 
explanation.” 

At these words Virginia flushed angrily. There was not 


STARLIGHT. 


9S 


a trace of a guilty woman about her ; even her father, 
angry as he was, felt sure she could give an explanation if 
she chose, and her obstinacy in refusing to do so increased 
his rage. 

“ I am sorry to say I can do none of these things. I 
have nothing to confess. I cannot promise to give up the 
gentleman you saw, and I can give no explanation of the 
matter," said Virginia calmly. 

The general also affected a calmness he was far from 
feeling. 

“ Very well. To-morrow morning you leave your home 
for good. I’ll have no scandal given to the servants, so 
come to dinner to-night and behave as if nothing had hap- 
pened ; in the morning your mother will go to the station 
with you and see you off as though on a visit ; and you 
don’t return unless I receive a full and satisfactory apology 
and explanation. Understand that." 

Virginia bdwed and moved toward the house with a lump 
in her throat, but with a firm determination to screen her 
brother at all costs. 

The something she had wished for had happened ; the 
monotony of her life was disturbed ; the opportunity for 
self-sacrifice had come ; an object in life had been found 
for her ; a special place had been prepared for her, and 
that place was the wide, wide world. 

Was she happy at last ? 


CHAPTER XI. 

STARLIGHT. 

The shadows were lengthening as Virginia turned from 
her angry father to go into the house ; were the shadows of 
her life lengthening in the morning of her youth ? Her 
heart was heavy, for she loved her father and her home, and 
the mere appearance of evil-doing was to a proud nature 
like hers as gall and wormwood, for which not even the 
sweetness that self-sacrifice always brings was a sufficient 
antidote. 

Never had her home looked so lovely in her eyes as now, 


96 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


when she approached it for the last time for months, per- 
haps forever. The rays of the setting sun cast a soft red 
glow over the old gray gabled roofs and tall twisted stone 
chimneys of Greenhouse, and cast golden lights on the 
dark trees at the back of the house in which the owls were 
wont to roost. 

Virginia sighed as she entered the house, and wondered 
where she would be at that time the next day. This was 
the question which perplexed her — where was she to 
go ? 

She had just been staying with her only uncle, and she 
had no other relations nor friends to whom she could go at 
a moment’s notice without any explanation. She could not 
afford to board in a family, for all she possessed was fifty 
pounds a year, which she had inherited from her grand- 
father. 

It was clear she must go out in some capacity ; perhaps 
she could meet with some lady who wanted a traveling 
companion ; she was fond of traveling, and she could make 
herself of use ; but it was the immediate present, and not 
the future, which distressed Virginia. She had no doubt 
that in time she could meet with many people who would 
be glad to have her on the “ meat for manners ” system, 
but where was she to go the next day, until some permanent 
arrangement could be made ? 

Perhaps Mrs. Willoughby could suggest something ; at 
any rate Virginia meant to consult her mother, and more- 
over she would not hesitate to tell her she was screening 
Alec, for she felt certain her mother would do the same, 
even at her own expense. In this Virginia afterward found 
she was wrong ; Mrs. Willoughby, fond as she was of her 
son, had no idea of sacrificing her daughter, much as she 
was willing to be sacrificed for his sake. 

Mrs. Willoughby was lying on a sofa in her own room, 
endeavoring to acquire some backbone before dinner, when 
Vi went in, and told her as briefly and calmly as she could 
what had happened. To her surprise Mrs. Willoughby 
was exceedingly angry with her son, and it required all 
Virginia’s powers of persuasion to induce her to promise 
not to betray him to the general. 

“ It is abominable of Alec. He had no business to come 


STARLIGHT. 97 

after Kitty when your father had forbidden him to see 
her ; he richly deserves to lose his allowance.” 

“ Oh, mother, dear, that would ruin Alec ; he can never 
live on his pay, and he would get into debt. It won’t hurt 
me to go away for a year, till Kitty is of age, and then 
father can be told of the mistake he has made, and I can 
come back,” said Vi proudly. 

“ Yes, that is all very well, but consider what people will 
say, Vi ; you have not counted the cost ; you don’t know 
what a sacrifice you are making.” 

“ Yes, mother, I think I know.” 

“ And I am sure you don’t. The whole thing must be, 
and shall be, hushed up. I won’t suffer the least breath of 
suspicion or scandal to attach to you in any one way. 
Your father may suspect you, but no one else shall, and 
unless I can see my way clearly to keeping the matter abso- 
lutely secret your father must be told. You talk of ruining 
Alec ; why, it would ruin your prospects entirely if such a 
report got abroad.” 

“ Oh, mother, how could it ? ” 

“ It would. No, Vi, you must allow me to judge for you 
in this matter. I know the world better than you do, and 
I know how far it is right to let you sacrifice yourself for 
Alec. If he knew it, he would be the first person to agree 
with me ; I am sure of that.” 

“ Yes, I know that too, but we need not tell Alec.” 

“ Well, if I can screen him, and at the same time save 
you from being talked about, I will. We can’t help your 
father suspecting you, nor can we blame him for doing so ; 
but rather than anyone else should do so, I must sacrifice 
Alec. Meanwhile, where are you to go to-morrow if your 
father won’t listen to reason, and I don’t suppose he 
will?” 

“ That is what I came to discuss with you, mother.” 

“ Here he comes. Run away now to Kitty ; tell her as 
much as you please, and perhaps she can suggest some- 
thing ; we must decide on some plan to-night,” said Mrs. 
Willoughby, as the general’s step was heard in the adjoin- 
ing room. 

This decision was not easy to make, for there was so 
little time wherein to make any arrangement, and Mrs. 


LOTTIE’S WOOING. 


98 

Willoughby found, unless she betrayed Alec, the general 
would not modify his sentence of banishment. He was 
fully convinced that Virginia was secretly engaged to the 
man he had seen, who, he said, was no doubt a penniless 
curate ; and he was determined to force her, by taking 
severe measures with her, to give him up. 

It was useless for Mrs. Willoughby to ask where Virginia 
was to go ; all the answer she got was, “ Out of his sight 
until she conformed to his wishes.” 

“ You can’t turn your daughter out of doors,” she urged. 

“You can arrange where she goes; let her stay with 
friends, or get a situation as governess, that will bring a 
proud girl like Vi to her senses.” 

“ A governess, indeed ! If you have nothing better than 
that to suggest you had better be silent.” 

While General Willoughby and his wife were exchanging 
these civilities, Virginia dressed for dinner and then went 
to the morning room where she found Kitty sitting dream- 
ing of Alec. 

“ Kitty, dear, the Bhap and I have had a quarrel. Don’t 
ask me what it was about, some day I’ll tell you, but he 
has ordered me to leave home to-morrow, and I am not to 
return until I can give an explanation which it is impossible 
for me to give,” said Virginia, her voice shaking in spite of 
her efforts at self-control. 

“ Vi, dearest ! You don’t mean to say the Rajah has 
been so wicked as to send you away. It is impossible. 
He does not mean it, I am sure he was only in a passion,” 
exclaimed Kitty, rising and throwing her bare white arms 
around Virginia. 

“ No, Kitty, he does mean it, and I am really going away 
to-morrow.” 

“ But where, Vi ? ” 

“ I don’t know yet. Mother and I have to decide 
where.” 

“ Vi, I shall come with you.” 

“ My darling, you can’t. I may have to earn my own 
living,” said Vi, gently trying to unlock Kitty’s arms from 
her neck, but Kitty only clung the closer. 

“ I don’t mind that. I can do the same as you do, but, 
go with you, I will. No one shall stop me. I will never 


STARLIGHT. 


99 


leave you, Vi. I should be miserable, utterly miserable 
here without you now. You shall take me, Vi, we can go 
into lodgings or take a cottage and Sanders can wait on 
us ; I have money enough for us both. Rajah has separated 
me from Alec, he shan’t separate me from you, also, for I 
won’t be separated.” 

“ But Kitty, father will never consent to let you go too,” 
objected Virginia. 

“ He must, I shan’t ask him. I shall go, Vi. I won’t 
ask any questions ; I am quite sure you were right and 
Rajah was wrong, and I will follow you to the end of the 
world. I must go with you.” 

“ Dear little Kitty ! Don’t make me cry, Kitty, father 
has ordered me to behave as if nothing had happened so as 
to give no scandal to the servants,” said Virginia, touched 
by Kitty’s affection. 

“ Rajah is mad, quite mad. I should like to shake him. 
What does he mean by behaving like this ? ” 

“ I own he had great provocation. I’ll tell you all about 
it when I come back, as I suppose I shall some day,” said 
Vi. 

Of course we shall come back, Vi. Rajah will soon get 
over his temper, and be very sorry he has been so cruel. 
Don’t smile like that, dearest. I will go with you ; if you 
don’t take me. I’ll run away after you.” 

“ But where are we to go, Kitty ? ” 

“I don’t know. Yes, I do. Vi, we will go for a tour in 
a gipsy’s van as you suggested. It will be lovely. Jack 
Vaughan shall drive us, and, by the time we are tired of it, 
Rajah will want us back ; at least we won’t come back 
till we are tired of it. It will be lovely!” exclaimed 
Kitty. 

“It would be indeed, if we could do it,” said Virginia, 
brightening at the prospect. 

“ But we can do it. We can get a van from Whiteley, he 
will send one all fitted up to any part of England at a few 
days’ notice ; I wrote and asked him after the Vaughans’ 
picnic. I will hire the van and Sanders can come with us 
to cook and wait on us. Vi, we must do it.” 

“ If we can only persuade mother to let us, I really think 
it would be the best plan. It would account for my 


ICO 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


absence from home, and we need only say we are gone on 
a driving-tour, even father need not be told any more.” 

There’s the dinner-bell. How tiresome ; we must go ; 
but I think we can pursuade Ranee to agree ; she must,” 
said Kitty as the two girls went downstairs arm in arm. 

Dinner was by no means the ordeal Virginia had feared 
it would be ; Kitty was so excited at the prospect of the 
driving-tour that she chatted merrily, and showed more 
animation that she had done since Alec left home. 

Mrs. Willoughby could not understand the girls’ behavior, 
and the general attributed Virginia’s spirits to mere bravado, 
and was more angry with her than ever in consequence. 

After dinner, while the general was left to smoke, Mrs. 
Willoughby was besieged with entreaties from both the 
girls to agree to their plan. 

At first she would not hear of such a thing. She declared 
it was wildly impossible, utterly impracticable, and most 
improper ; but by degrees she yielded to Virginia’s argu- 
ments. She urged that the outdoor life would be so good 
for Kitty who was far from well ; that it would be such an 
excellent excuse to give for her absence from home ; that 
perhaps when the tour was over her father might relent and 
allow her to return, and so all scandal would be avoided, 
and this last argument carried the day. 

Mrs. Willoughby had no better plan to suggest, and at 
last she gave a reluctant consent. She knew both girls 
were thoroughly to be trusted, and with Sanders and Jack 
Vaughan to take care of them, she did not really think they 
would come to much harm in these latter days. 

The only stipulations she made were, that Jack should 
always sleep in a little tent on fine nights and at an inn on 
wet ; and that they should make their tour in another 
county where they were not known. 

“ We will go to Gloucestershire to the Cotswold, mother, 
and then to Dean Forest and up the Wye to Ross ; I 
believe it is the prettiest county in England,” said Vi. 

“You’ll have to go into lodgings for a week first till the 
van is ready. Suppose you go with Sanders to Bath to- 
morrow ; I know of lodgings there, and Jack Vaughan can 
meet you at your starting place. You had better write to 
him to-night, Vi, and tell him to come and lunch with me 


STARLIGHT. 


101 


to-morrow. Your father will be at a magistrate’s meeting 
and I can discuss it all with young Vaughan. It all 
depends on him ; if he can’t go with you, it must be given 
up,” said Mrs. Willoughby. 

But he can go with us, I know. His exam, is not for 
nearly three months, and he can bring his books. He will 
have plenty of time to study,” said Vi. 

“ Shall you tell Rajah ? ” asked Kitty. 

“ No ; Sanders must be ready to start by an early train 
with your luggage ; he would not let you go, Kitty, if he 
knew it ; I shall tell him when I come back from the 
station, that you are all gone to Bath until he allows 
Virginia to return. You had better both go upstairs and 
be packing up. He is evidently not going to join us to- 
night.” 

The girls went upstairs, and sat up till past twelve o’clock 
discussing their tour, and deciding what things to take, and 
what costumes to wear when they went into the van ; and 
then when Kitty had gone to bed, Virginia opened her 
window, put out her light, muffled her head and shoulders 
in a warm shawl, and sat down at the open window to think 
over all that had happened since she got up that morning. 

It was a clear starlight night, there was no moon, but the 
stars shone with that calm persistent brilliancy which seems 
to assert their unchanging attitude. Day and night may 
pass away, clouds may intervene to hide them, the earth 
itself may pass away like a falling star, but those eternal 
lamps will shine on, if not forever, yet for countless ages, 
calm and brilliant. 

Virginia gazed up at them and felt chilled by their cold 
calm light, awed by their infinitude, overwhelmed by the 
thought of their age and distance, and size and multitude ; 
and then a sudden sense of intolerable loneliness, such as 
she had never before experienced came over her. 

Who was she ? 

A tiny worm of earth wriggling in agony, a mere atom 
on one of the smallest of all these worlds, whose infinite 
number no mortal can ever count ; and overwhelmed with 
the thought of her own utter insignificance, and her infinite 
power of suffering and enjoying, she bowed her head in her 
hands and wept passionately. 


102 


LOTTIES WOOING. 


No doubt she was over-tired, over-wrought ; Mrs. 
Browning has told us in Aurora Leigh why women weep, 
^‘because they are tired, not because they have lost a 
world.” It is true nine times out of ten women weep from 
physical weakness ; and the tenth time for some senti- 
mental cause. There are too many worlds to please them ; 
or they are misunderstood ; or they want something, if not 
the moon itself, some other equally unattainable object. 

Virginia’s tears if traced to their source sprang from 
all these causes ; she was physically tired ; she was mis- 
understood ; there are too many stars in the sky, they 
overwhelmed her ; she wanted something, she did not 
know what ; probably a lover would have dried her tears. 

Tu-whit. Tu-whoo;” cried a great fluffy owl in the 
elms as it flitted from branch to branch. 

“ Tu-who-o-o,” echoed another. 

Virginia’s sobs and the weird, melancholy mocking 
hooting of the owls were the only sounds which broke the 
silence of the night ; she loved the cry of the owls, and the 
thought that this was the last time she would hear it for 
months, perhaps for years, only made her tears fall faster. 

How long Virginia sat there at the open window, the 
cool night air kissing her throbbing temples, she never 
knew ; probably she cried herself to sleep, for the next sound 
she was conscious of, after the hooting of the owls had at 
length subsided, was the soft cooing of the wood-pigeons 
in the wood close by, who began their monotonous song 
before the first streak of dawn lightened the sky. 

Their gentle melodious cooing soothed the girl and 
brought balm to her wounded spirit ; she listened for a 
while and then did the wisest thing she could do, she 
undressed and went to bed. 

Star-depths, mysteries of space, wild cries of the night 
bird, hooting of owls, and cooing of stock-doves are all 
very well in their way, but for a healthy young woman of 
twenty-three, bed during the small hours is a better place 
than at an open window contemplating these infinities and 
listening to this nocturnal music. 

So Virginia, being a sensible girl as girls go, went to bed, 
and was rocked to sleep by the cradle song of the wood- 
pigeons. 


STARLIGHT. 


103 


Nature is ever speaking to us in parables : was the cooing 
of the stock-doves prophetic ? did it speak of love which, 
now that the owls had bade her farewell, should come and 
fill her heart with the best of earthly joys ? 

Birds bring messages to men ; their whole time is not 
spent in praising God and wooing their mates, they have a 
duty to men also ; they have more to say than many writers 
who take three volumes in which to say nothing ; the birds 
say their say, but alas ! we are too deaf to hear it. 

The storm-cock who takes occasion from a gleam of sun- 
shine between the storms of a December day to sing his 
brief happy song of defiance to the coming cold blasts ; 
the nightingale who pours forth her soul in a stream of 
ecstasy in the night-watches ; the cuckoo who travels so far 
every spring to say the same thing ; the thrush who wakes 
us so early to listen to his matins; the blackbird who enlivens 
the gloaming with the still richer fuller music of his com- 
pline ; the soaring lark silent only when he touches the 
earth ; have they not all a message from heaven to poor 
suffering humanity ? 

Yes, surely they have a gospel to preach to those who 
have ears to hear ; and as a reward for their trouble we 
shoot them, or at least grudge them a handful of currants 
as their wages. 

Man is a mean creature after all. 

General Willoughby was not mean in this way ; he was 
too good a sportsman to fly at such little game as singing 
birds, and he never allowed one to be shot on his premises, 
nor a bush to be netted ; the consequence was the garden 
was full of birds and freer of insects than most gardens. 

He was an early riser, and on fine mornings wandered 
about the grounds for hours before breakfast listening to 
the birds, and looking at the flowers and fruit. He was 
up as usual the morning Virginia was to leave home, and as 
he paced the terrace under the lime trees alive with the 
humming of bees, he resolved to give his daughter one 
more chance of explaining the meeting he had witnessed, 
before she left home. 

A night’s reflection, coupled with curtain lectures to the 
same effect from the wife of his bosom, had taught him he 
was taking very severe measures, and that great as his 


104 


LOTTIES WOOING. 


grounds for suspicion were, he was in duty bound to hush 
the matter up and give no scandal nor loop-hole for scandal 
to others. 

After breakfast, accordingly, he sent for Virginia, but the 
interview was practically useless ; she declined to give any 
further explanation ; and was calmer and even more digni- 
fied than on the previous evening, and so far from showing 
any distress or contrition, although pale and heavy-eyed 
from her vigil of the preceding night, she was in very good 
spirits. 

It was not until Mrs. Willoughby returned from the sta- 
tion that he learnt that Kitty and Sanders had gone with 
her, and then although he flew into another violent passion 
and used most unparliamentary language, Mrs. Willoughby, 
who could read him like a book, was sure he was really 
much relieved to find Virginia had not gone alone. 

He forbade her to mention his daughter’s name to him 
and vowed he did not care a straw where the girls had gone ; 
so Mrs. Willoughby had no difficulty in keeping their 
secret ; but she afterward found out he had questioned the 
groom who drove them to the station, as to what labels were 
put upon the luggage. 

Evidently he cared far more than he chose to show, and 
as his wife anticipated, he went over to Bath the following 
week ostensibly on business, really, as she knew, to see 
what Virginia and Kitty were doing ; but as it happened 
they left Bath for Cirencester, where it was decided Jack 
and the van should meet them, the very day the general 
arrived. 


CHAPTER XII. 

LOTTIE IS NERVOUS. 

The unconscious cause of Virginia’s banishment returned 
to barracks in a very bad temper, during those small hours 
of the morning which she spent in listening to the owls. 

He had been made a fool of, he, the fascinating fellow 
whom so many girls besides Kitty were ready to fall down 
and worship, he had been made a fool of by a little penni- 


LOTTIE IS NERVOUS. 105 

less girl of seventeen, whom his mother would consider 
utterly beneath him in social position. 

He was wounded in his tenderest point, in his vanity, for 
men are very vain ; vainer than women give them credit 
for being, vainer than they themselves have any idea of. 
No wonder he was angry with Lily, no wonder he swore, as 
he threw himself down to rest, never to speak to her again, 
but to marry Kitty out of spite ; no wonder seeing he was 
really in love with Lily, when he woke the next morning he 
had almost forgiven her, and was quite determined to win 
her. 

Later in the day he received a letter from Lottie, who had 
persuaded Lily to let her write explaining what had hap- 
pened ; this letter turned his anger from Lily to Jack, whom 
he longed to horsewhip for his pains, and it decided him to 
go over to Workwell again on the very first opportunity. 

If he had had any idea Virginia was suffering for his 
sake, the innocent for the guilty, he would not have hesi- 
tated to confess his offense and take the consequences ; 
but he was destined to be ignorant of this for some time. 

Mrs. Willoughby merely told him that Kitty and Vi had 
gone on a driving-tour for a month or six weeks, and he 
concluded she did not tell him where they were going lest 
he should follow them. 

He was very glad to hear this news, he hoped it would 
do Kitty good, and rouse her from her present melancholy 
mood ; perhaps she would learn to forget him and pick up 
another lover, or console herself with Mr. Long, who was 
really a very good fellow, much more suited to Kitty than 
he was. 

So he dismissed Kitty from his thoughts, and gave him- 
self up to dreaming of Lily, to whom he wrote a touching 
account of his disappointment. He received no answer to 
this letter, Lottie having advised Lily on no account to 
enter into a correspondence with him, until they were 
engaged. 

Lily had implicit faith in Lottie’s knowledge of men and 
their ways, and looked up to her as an oracle on all ques- 
tions of love and marriage, so she took her advice, and 
soon, too soon, had reason to be very glad she had done so. 

Lottie, though aware of Lily’s estimate of her power’s 


io6 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


in this department of men and manners, was very diffident 
of them herself just now ; she had, up to this time, utterly 
failed to make the impression she desired to make on Mr. 
Barrett ; moreover, sharp as she was, she was at a loss to 
understand him. 

It seemed impossible he should be so blind to his own 
interests, as to neglect to share his heart and hearth with 
one so eminently calculated to make him happy, as she was ; 
unless, indeed, he was in love with someone else, or sworn 
to celibacy. 

He admired her, she knew that ; he liked her, she knew 
that ; oh ! why could not he see what a good wife she would 
make for him > He must see it ; he must be made to 
see it. 

But how to make him see it was the question. Lottie 
pondered over this in the night watches, and passed several 
restless nights in trying to answer it. 

“ If I could only stay in the same house with him,” she 
thought. “ There is nothing like staying in the same house 
for promoting marriages ; a few days under the same roof 
is better than a hundred chance meetings. Unfortunately, 
[ know no one who could be cajoled into asking us both at 
the same time. I can’t ask him here for two reasons ; we 
have no spare room furnished, and he lives so close by I 
could not ask him to stay with us, unless there was some 
good reason for doing so. What can I do ? ” 

Lottie thought this the night before Jack was invited to 
go on the driving-tour, and her first thought on hearing of 
the invitation was that one obstacle to inviting Mr. Barrett 
to stay was removed ; there would be a spare room when 
Jack was gone. All that was wanted now was a valid 
excuse for inviting him to stay with them, and Lottie was 
not a girl to fail to find one in good time. The occasion 
would come, she had but to wait ; she was a firm believer 
in the proverb “ everything comes to him who knows how 
to wait.” 

Lottie’s creed, could it have been formally drawn up, 
would have been a very curious compilation. 

The first article would undoubtedly have been, I 
believe in myself ; the next, I believe we make our own 
destiny ; and the last, I believe money is the one thing need- 


LOTTIE IS NERVOUS. 


107 


ful in this world, and I don’t at present trouble myself 
about the next world. 

It would have contained some worldly maxims, but the 
above would have been the sum and substance of it. 
Faulty as it was, she lived up to it, and that is more than 
can be said of some who hold a higher faith. 

The opportunity she was now waiting for came the day 
Jack left home. 

Mrs. Willoughby had cautioned him not to tell anyone 
how he and the girls were going to travel ; not even his 
own sisters, and he kept the secret faithfully, promising to 
be ready to start for any place Virginia chose to fix upon 
at a moment’s notice. 

The only difficulty in his way had been the expense, for 
he knew Lottie had had the greatest difficulty in eking out 
their means till the dividend came, and he could not ask her 
for a penny. Mrs. Willoughby had unconsciously solved 
the puzzle by saying she would only allow Jack to go on 
condition that she paid his expenses ; for she knew the 
Vaughans were not well off, how poor they really were 
neither she nor anyone else had any idea. “ II faut laver le 
linge sale chez vouSy* was another maxim Miss Lottie 
Vaughan practiced. 

The night before Jack started, Lottie took it into her head 
to go round the house and see that the doors were done up ; 
saying that as she should have to do it while Jack was 
away, she might as well begin at once. 

I don’t think there is much danger of anyone breaking 
in in this quiet place ; besides, it is well known we have 
nothing to steal,” said Lily. 

“ I am not so sure about that. I hate a house with- 
out a man in it. I think I shall get a revolver,” said 
Lottie. 

“ Oh ! Lottie, why even I am not the least nervous here,” 
said Lily. 

“ Wouldn’t you be nervous if you heard a mouse squeak, 
though .? I know you. Miss Lil,” said Jack. 

“ I confess I shall feel nervous when Jack is gone,” said 
Lottie. 

“ You nervous, Lottie ; that is a good one ! There 
never was a girl with less nervousness than you. Now 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


lo8 

I should die of fright if I heard any noises in the night/’ 
said Mrs. Vaughan. 

“ Yes, mother, but you sleep so soundly you never do 
hear anything, so I feel bound to be on the qui vive” said 
Lottie. 

This conversation took place a little time before they 
went to bed ; so perhaps Lottie went upstairs in a nervous 
mood ; at any rate, Lily was awakened about one o’clock by 
Lottie standing over her little bed and shaking her.” 

“Wake up, Lily. Don’t shriek or scream, and whatever 
you do, don’t wake mother,” whispered Lottie in a mys- 
terious tone. 

“ Don’t, Lottie. I am so sleepy. What is it ?” said Lily 
only half awake as yet. 

“ There is someone breaking into the house,” said 
Lottie. 

“ Let them break in, never mind,” said Lily, turning 
over. 

“ Let them break in, and murder us all in our beds, per- 
haps. My dear child, wake up and come with me,” said 
Lottie, pulling the clothes off Lily. 

“ Strike a light, then. I daren’t get up in the dark. 
Where are we to go ? ” asked Lily, shivering as Lottie struck 
a light and showed herself in a dark blue dressing-gown, 
with her pretty fair hair streaming down her back, and her 
little feet encased in slippers. 

“ To wake Jack, of course, and make him go downstairs 
with us. Listen ! Don’t you hear them ? There is some- 
one breaking in at the scullery window.” 

Lily listened, and certainly heard a noise which did seem 
to come from the scullery. 

“ It is only the window banging. Those stupid servants 
have left it open,” said Lily as she slipped on her dressing- 
gown. 

“ No, they didn’t, I went round the house myself, and I 
am quite sure they had fastened every door and window,” 
said Lottie, who looked almost as young as Lily, with her 
pretty hair streaming down her back. 

“ If it is burglars we had better leave them alone,” said 
Lily. 

“ Nonsense. We will wake Jack and try and catch them, 


LOTTIE IS NERVOUS. 


109 


Take the poker. I have a constable’s staff, and take hold 
my arm. We must put the light out, if they see it they’ll 
decamp.” 

“ Oh ! I wish they would. I daren’t go, Lottie,” said 
Lily, trying to pull Lottie back. 

“Well, stay here, then, and I’ll go with Jack,” said 
Lottie. 

“ Oh ! no, I daren't. If you will go I must go too,” said 
Lily, clinging to her sister as the two girls made their way 
to Jack’s room. 

He was not at all inclined to get up, but Lottie insisted, 
and as there certainly was a noise coming from the scullery, 
he at last consented to go downstairs with his sisters to 
see what it was. They waited on the landing till he was 
ready, and then the three crept as noiselessly as they could 
down the creaking stairs. Lottie trembling lest they should 
wake Mrs. Vaughan, Lily shaking with fear lest, the bur- 
glars should murder them. 

When they reached the door of the scullery Jack struck 
a match and lighted the gas outside it, then threw wide the 
door and walked boldly in. 

“ There is no one here, but the window is wide open,” he 
exclaimed. 

“ They heard us coming and have run away, or else they 
are hiding in some of the rooms. I knew I was right, they 
got in by that window,” said Lottie. 

“ I don’t believe it was anyone. At any rate, there is no 
one here unless he is in the copper, if so we will light a fire 
and have boiled burglar for supper,” said Jack as he shut 
the window. 

“ I hope they got out by it,” said Lily, who had no desire 
for an encounter with burglars. 

“ Don’t be silly ; Jack, we must search the house as 
quietly as we can,” said Lottie. 

This they proceeded to do, but not a sign of any robber 
was to be found ; everything was just as it had been the 
night before. 

“ It is a false alarm ; what do you mean by crying ‘ wolf,’ 
Lottie? It was only that stupid James left the window 
open, and you heard it banging; I’ll kick him well 
to-morrow,” 


no 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


“ But he didn’t leave it open. I found it shut and barred 
when I came in here last night,” said Lottie. 

This was the truth, but it was not the whole truth. 

“Are you playing a grim and ghastly joke on us, Lottie ? 
I begin to suspect you are,” said Jack, who was at a loss to 
account for Lottie’s nervousness. 

“ I don’t see any joke about it,” said Lily. 

“Nor I, but Jack apparently thinks it good sport,” said 
Lottie. 

“ Do I ? I should like to be allowed to retire to my 
couch ; it is a hard one, but it is preferable to wandering 
about the house in pursuit of the phantoms of Lottie’s dis- 
eased imagination ; so as I am satisfied there are no bur- 
glars to tackle, I propose going to bed again,” said Jack. 

“ There is no one about, certainly, but I shall never dare 
to sleep in this house to-morrow night without a man,” said 
Lottie, as they went up to bed again. 

The next morning Lottie told Mrs. Vaughan at break- 
fast of the alarm they had had. 

“ Oh, dear ! oh, dear ! I shall never dare to go to bed 
to-night without Jack. He must give up this driving-tour 
and stay and take care of his poor widowed mother,” said 
Mrs. Vaughan. 

“ Oh ! no, mother. Jack can’t do that ; he must go,” said 
Lottie. 

“ Why did you tell mother, Lottie ? ” said Lily in a tone 
of surprise, for it was very unlike Lottie to be nervous, and 
still more unlike her to make Mrs. Vaughan so. 

“ Why ? Because I agree with mother it won’t be safe 
for us to go to bed to-night without a man in the house. 
James is no use. I wish we knew some gentleman-friend 
to ask to come and sleep here for a few nights. I wonder 
if Mr. Barrett would come. I’ll write and ask him if he 
will come to-night and stay with us poor unprotected 
women till Monday,” said Lottie, as if suddenly inspired 
with this idea. 

“ Now I understand last night’s little adventure. Great 
Scott ! Lottie, you are a very clever girl, but you don’t get 
me out of bed in the middle of the night again in a hurry to 
shut windows you have seen fit to open,” exclaimed Jack, 
going into ^ fit of laughter, 


Lottie is nervous. 


ill 


Lottie had the grace to blush, but she parried Jack’s 
attack very skillfully, pretending he made this accusation to 
calm his mother’s anxiety ; and then she wrote a note to 
Mr. Barrett and left it on her way to the station to see 
Jack start, 

Lily had been invited to lunch with Miss Savage, so she 
went from the station to The Dell, where a great trial was 
in store for her, for in the course of conversation, she learnt 
from Miss Savage that Alec had been forbidden to return to 
Workwell on account of Kitty Arundel, to whom he was 
engaged without his father’s consent. 

Miss Savage was so intimate with the Willoughbys that 
Lily knew she could rely on the truth of this information ; 
and though Miss Savage added she did not believe Alec 
really cared for Kitty, but that he had been led into the 
engagement, partly by his mother for the sake of her money, 
and partly because he had nothing else to do, it was a great 
blow to Lily. 

She was a brave little thing, though, and she took good 
care Miss Savage should not suspect how much the news 
had affected her ; she forced herself to laugh and talk as 
though nothing had happened, while all the time a weight 
like lead was pressing on her poor little heart. 

She would not leave a minute before her usual time, and 
then she hurried home to indulge her pent-up feelings ; her 
bosom swelling indignantly at the thought of Alec’s perfidy 
in actually proposing to her while engaged to another girl. 
She would never forgive such a villainy, never. 

Hadn’t she actually a letter from him written only a few 
days ago, vowing eternal fidelity to her ? 

By all the vows that ever men have broke, 

In number more than ever woman spoke.” 

Was there ever such a wretch ? Oh ! the fiend ! The 
false cruel wretch ? Why were such men allowed to live and 
break the hearts of poor helpless girls ? 

Oh ! how glad she was she had taken Lottie’s advice and 
had not written to him. 

Thus thinking Lily reached home, and ran upstairs to the 
room she and Lottie occupied, meaning to shut herself up 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


ii2 

and have a good cry, but when she opened the door, she 
found the room was transformed since she left it in the 
morning. 

Her bed was gone, fresh curtains were put up, some of 
the furniture was changed ; a handsome Indian shawl was 
thrown over Lottie’s bed as a counterpane ; there was 
flowers on the dressing-table, forget-me-nots among them, 
and Lily was impatiently wondering what all this meant, 
when Lottie came tripping in saying : 

“ Doesn’t it look lovely, Lil ? ” 

“What does it all mean ?” 

“ Why, Mr. Barrett is coming this evening, so I have 
moved our things into Jack’s room, and given this to Mr. 
Barrett. Do you mind ?” 

“ I don’t mind anything. I don’t mind whether I have a 
room or not. I don’t mind whether I live or die. Oh ! 
Lottie ! Lottie ! Lottie ! I am so miserable,” said Lily, 
throwing her arms round Lottie’s neck and sobbing hys- 
terically. 

“ What is the matter, my pet ? What has happened ? 
Has old Savage frightened you ? ” 

“ No — o — o. It is Alec, he is engaged to that horrid, 
horrid Kitty Arundel. I never liked her, now I hate her, 
and I hate Alec, too,” sobbed Lily. 

“ No, you don’t,” whispered Lottie, kissing the pretty 
flushed cheek. 

“ I wish I were dead.” 

“ I am very glad you are not. Don’t cry, Lil. It will 
all come right some day, I am sure Alec loves you, and you 
say General Willoughby has forbidden the other engage- 
ment. 

“ No, it won’t come right. I will never, never forgive 
Alec. I shall never smile again,” said Lily. 

“ Oh ! yes, you will. Don’t spoil those pretty eyes by 
crying. I don’t believe there is a man on earth worth cry- 
ing for,” said Lottie. 

“ Perhaps not. I can’t come down to dinner, Lottie, you 
must entertain Mr. Barrett. I want to be alone, say I have 
a headache, say anything except the truth,” said Lily, as 
she went to Jack’s room and threw herself on to her bed. 

Lottie brought her some tea, and tried to comfort her, 


LOTTIE IS NERVOUS. 


but Lily wished to enjoy the misery of grief, and refused 
to be comforted ; she would not go down to dinner, so as 
Mrs. Vaughan napped half the evening, Lottie and Mr. 
Barrett, were practically alone, circumstances once more 
favoring Lottie. 

Mr. Barrett enjoyed a good dinner as well as most men, 
and Lottie took care to have some savory dishes which she 
prepared herself, to tempt his palate. After dinner she 
sent for his violin and begged him to play to her, and was 
too wise to attempt to accompany him, for he was really a 
good musician and Lottie was quite aware of her own defi- 
ciences in this respect. 

I am a good cook, but a bad musician ; my talents all 
lie in the domestic line ; I am useful rather than orna- 
mental,” she said, as she proceeded to darn some of Jack’s 
socks, wondering as she did so who darned Mr. Barrett’s. 

“ I think you are both useful and ornamental,” said 
Barrett gallantly, but that was the only rise, as Jack would 
have said, which Lottie got out of him that evening. 

No further alarms took place that night, and the next 
morning Barrett offered to take the girls for a drive to one 
of the dales that afternoon, as it was Saturday, and he had 
no work. 

Lily did not appear at breakfast, but Lottie accepted the 
invitation, and insisted upon her going, declaring she could 
not go without her. 

“ Well, I’ll go. If the horse runs away and I am killed, 
all the better for Kitty Arundel,” said Lily. 

“ Lily, it is very wicked of you to talk like that. I’ll send 
for Mr. Short to come and lecture you, if you don’t mind. 
I only wish I were as certain of something I want, as I am 
that Alec Willoughby loves you, and means to marry you, 
if you’ll have him, in spite of that little heiress, and the 
general, and the duke, and his cousin. But I’ll ask Mr. 
Short to dinner to-night to cheer you up. If he likes to 
improve the occasion, as he is fond of doing, he can,” said 
Lottie. 

So Lily went for the drive with Mr. Barrett and Lottie, 
and consoled herself by flirting desperately with Mr. Short 
all the evening, till that unfortunate man went home quite 
unfit to prepare his sermon for the following evening ; 


LOTTIKS WOOING. 


114 

flattering himself that he had made a conquest of the pret- 
tiest girl in the neighborhood. 

Mr. Barrett stayed at The Cottage till Monday morning, 
when he told Lottie he had sent for a dog for her, a bull- 
terrier which was an excellent house-dog and at the same 
time very gentle, so they would not be quite unprotected. 

Lottie accepted the offer with as good a grace as possi- 
ble, for she did not want the expense of a dog as she was 
not in the least nervous. She had wanted to have Mr. Bar- 
rett to stay with them, and that object had been attained ; 
the ulterior object was as far off her grasp as ever. 

Mr. Barrett had no doubt enjoyed his visit ; he had told 
her he was tired of hotel life and was anxious to settle 
down in his own house, but he had not hinted that he should 
require a wife to look after it ; so when he left, Lottie 
regretfully confessed to herself his visit had, she feared, 
been a failure. 

When the bull-terrier arrived, and she had to take out a 
dog license, and buy a dog collar a muzzle and a chain, she 
was sure of the fact. 

Nevertheless she did not despair ; this effort had failed ; 
well, she must make another, that was all. 

“ If he had only paid for the dog’s license it would not 
have mattered so much ; but he is like a great many other 
rich and self-made men, he takes care of his pence. Poor 
dear Captain Bruce was far more generous, and yet he had 
not as many shillings as the other has pounds. Heigh-ho,” 
sighed Lottie as she counted the money in her slender 
purse, and decided they must be content with meat twice a 
week while Jack was away. 

About a week after he left Lottie’s spirits rose again, for 
Mr. Barrett, who was anxious to return the hospitality he 
had received at their hands, called one afternoon to ask if 
they would like to go to a garden party at Chatton. 

“I should love it; but we don’t know the duke and 
duchess, or rather they don’t know us,” said Lottie. 

“ But I do, and I can easily get you an invitation. In 
fact, I have one for Mr. Barrett and party, and if you and 
your mother and sister will be my party, I shall be most 
proud to escort you,” said Barrett. 

“ Oh ! it is good of you to think of us, but would not 


LOTTIE IS MERVOUS, ti5 

you rather take someone else ? Miss Savage — she comes 
before us,” said Lottie. 

This was a feeler thrown out to see if it were true that 
Miss Savage came before her, but it had not the desired 
effect. 

“ Miss Savage has an invitation. The duke has known 
her father for years, and they always go two or three times 
a year to Chatton.” 

“ Oh ! thank you, then, very much, we shall be delighted 
to go, shan’t we, Lil ? ” 

Lily professed herself as pleased as Lottie ; but in reality 
she cared very little about going anywhere just now ; she 
was determined, however, no one should know how much 
she was suffering from Alec’s unfaithfulness. She was too 
proud for that, and though she really cared very much for 
him, she was resolved no one should know how badly he 
had treated her. She at once decided she would go to this 
garden-party, and flirt with Mr. Green-Turner who, being 
sworn to celibacy, was fair game, and put Miss Savage, who 
she knew suspected Alec had been false to both Kitty and 
herself, olf the scent. 

Mrs. Vaughan was less enthusiastic, and said if anyone 
could be found to chaperon the girls she would prefer to 
stay at home, as it was a long drive and she was very 
nervous. 

“ The Savages can chaperon us,” said Lily. 

“ Yes, I’ll drive you over in my dog-cart and we’ll meet 
them there. I shall have to go early and stay late, but per- 
haps you won’t mind that. I’ll see you are well looked 
after ; I know almost everyone who is going,” said Mr. 
Barrett. 

“I believe you have made a conquest after all, Lottie. 
At any rate, you’ll have one beau to walk about with,” said 
Mrs. Vaughan, chuckling placidly after he had left. 

I began to think he is coming on. It behooves me to be 
careful. Mother, I must, I positively must have a new dress 
for the occasion. My whole fate hangs on it,” said Lottie 
impressively. 

“ I can’t bear to hear you talk like that, Lottie. Love is 
too sacred a subject to joke upon,” said Lily. 

“ My dear child, who is talking of love and Cupid and 


ti6 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


all that nonsense? It is merely a question of ^ S. D. and 
some fresh war-paint, to the consideration of which my 
whole energies will be devoted for the next three weeks.” 

Lily rose and left the room in silence ; Lottie’s hear.tless- 
ness, worldliness, and too frank statement of the object she 
had in view, jarred upon her more refined nature, and 
quarreled with her present rather high-flown ideas of love, 
as two colors which neither blend nor contrast with each 
other are said to do. 

“ Yes,” said Lottie, when Lily was gone, “ I must have a 
new dress, it must be fashionable, simple yet striking, be- 
coming, and it must not cost a penny more than ten shil- 
lings.” 

“ My dear Lottie, you can’t possibly get a dress for ten 
shillings.” 

My dear mother, I must get a dress and gloves for ten 
shillings, and the gloves must cost as much as the dress ; 
that’s the worst of it, for they must be as good as they 
make them. As for the dress, I must make it myself, of 
course, but no one will know that ; the question is, what’s 
it to be made of ? ” 

“ Cotton, I should think, if that’s to be the price,” said 
Mrs. Vaughan. 

“ The angels only know at present. I must evolve a 
design out of my inner consciousness, and then I must 
ransack England to find a material to carry it out in. Oh, 
dear ! oh, dear ! What it is to be poor ! ” said Lottie, 
whom we must leave for the present while we follow Vir- 
ginia and Kitty on their tour. 


CHAPTER XIII. 

IN ARDEN. 

“ Ay ! now am I in Arden, the more fool I ; when I was at home I 
was in a better place, but travelers must be content.” 

Touchstone. 

Jack’s instructions were to go to Cirencester, where he 
would find awaiting him the van which Kitty had hired ; he 
was to sleep there one night, hire a horse, and the next day 


tN ARDEN. 


iij 

drive a little way outside the town and there wait for Vir- 
ginia, Kitty, and Sanders, the maid, who were to join him in 
the afternoon. 

Jack reached the sleepy old town of Cirencester with 
its abbey rising in its midst like a beautiful dream of the 
past, about five o’clock ; he went straight to the inn Vir- 
ginia had indicated, saw the caravan, which had already 
arrived, explored it, then changed his clothes inside it, and 
went out to hire a horse for the tour. 

His get-up was excellent, seeing he had had no one to con- 
sult and no money to spend upon it ; his corduroy trousers 
were the same he wore to personate Alec Willoughby, Mr. 
Barrett having given them to him ; he found an old velveteen 
coat of his father’s, and a rakish looking old chimney hat, 
both of which did admirably ; his waistcoat, of which he was 
very proud, he picked up at a pawnbroker’s. It was a gor- 
geous waistcoat ; tartan with gilt buttons ; a loose colored 
handkerchief which combined the offices of collar and tie 
completed his costume. 

He had brought an old whip with a long lash of hippo- 
potamus hid with him, and armed with this he set out to 
hire a horse at a farm to which the inn people, who were 
much interested in his movements, had directed him. 

He hired a great white horse warranted to go ten miles 
a day easily, and as Jack afterward discovered, it did go 
ten miles a day very easily, taking nearly the day to do 
them in ; but it was a strong healthy animal with no vice, 
and it required no looking after when grazing, for it never 
managed to run away in harness or out of harness. 

The next day he visited the abbey and bought the 
groceries and other provisions Virginia had sent a list of ; 
then he dined at the inn, donned his gypsy costume, put the 
white horse into the van and drove to the trysting place 
marked on the ordnance map by which they were to travel, 
followed by a gang of children and idle people whose 
curiosity was keenly excited by the smart van and the evi- 
dently amateur gypsy. 

“ I hope these natives will be tired of looking at me and 
will decamp before the others arrive,” thought Jack, as 
having found a wide grassy spot about half a mile out of 
the town, he took out the horse, and seating himself on the 


LOTTlE^S tVOOINC. 


liS 

door step of the moving house proceeded to smoke a suc- 
cession of pipes. 

In due time the idlers who had followed him cleared off, 
and he was left monarch of all he surveyed. Virginia had 
told him to expect them about four o’clock, so he set about 
preparing tea to welcome them on their arrival. He soon 
collected some sticks for a fire, and set the tripod over 
them ; then he had to look for some water, and learned that 
they must always be guided by the presence of a spring or 
a clear stream in choosing a halting place ; for he had a 
long way to walk before he found any water. 

On his return he saw a fly drive up with the girls and 
Sanders inside ; a traveling bath and two small trunks on 
the box. Virginia and Kitty wore traveling cloaks and 
sailor hats, but, as they explained, these were the only 
civilized garments they had with them ; they removed the 
cloaks as soon as the flyman had gone, and went inside the 
van to inspect the place which was to be their home for the 
ndxt month or six weeks. 

They were dressed in blue serge skirts, made quite 
plainly, and loose flannel blouses ; Vi wore a red blouse in 
which she looked supremely handsome, Kitty a white one ; 
they had sun-bonnets made of print for hot weather, and 
bright colored handkerchiefs to tie over their heads in cold 
weather, or when they traveled by night, which Virginia was 
bent upon doing sometimes. 

“ You make ideal gypsies,” said Jack admiringly, when 
the traveling cloaks were taken off and packed away. 

“ So do you ; it is so kind of you to come,” said Vi. 

“ Kind ! Why I never enjoyed the prospect of anything 
half as much before in all my life. Last week was the 
longest I ever spent ; but do come in and look at the van ; 
it is perfect, my only fear is that we shall be too com- 
fortable.” 

“ There’s not much fear of that, sir,” said Sanders with 
a superior smile, sniffing around the van, keen to find out 
any and every drawback. 

She was a middle-aged woman, about forty-five, with a 
high color and a quantity of sandy hair. She was a strong- 
minded woman, with nerves of iron ; she was physically 
strong also, and he would have been a bold man who ven- 


IN ARDEN. 


I19 

tured to offend Maria Sanders. She was quite as good a 
protection to the girls as any man could have been, and had 
come quite prepared to fire the revolver they brought with 
them at any assailants. 

She had a brusque manner, and ruled Kitty, whom she 
worshiped, completely ; but she stood somewhat in awe of 
Virginia, whom she admired without loving. 

“ She requires to be grasped tightly, like the nettle, or 
she stings. Sanders is one of those people who, if you 
don’t tread upon them, will tread upon you, as she does 
upon Kitty. She quite understands if there is any tread- 
ing to be done with me, I shall be the treader, so we get on 
very well,” said Vi to Jack when they were alone. 

Their new quarters were decidedly limited ; inside the van 
was a berth for Sanders, which closed and made a low seat 
in the day-time ; two hammocks were slung across the van, 
the interior of which was very like a ship’s cabin, with this 
advantage, it did not roll about ; the hammocks in which 
Virginia and Kitty were to sleep could be drawn up to the 
roof in the day-time, and the bedding packed away in a 
square, movable locker which could be used as a table. 

There was an oil cooking stove, a camp stool or two, and 
no other furniture of any kind except the lockers which 
ran round the van, one of which contained crockery, 
another cooking utensils, a third towels, sheets, and table- 
cloths. 

Sanders made running comments, all of a disparaging 
nature, on everything connected with the van, while this 
inspection was going on ; her bed was too small ; and as 
for the hammocks, if her young ladies didn’t break their arms 
and legs in getting in and out of them, why, it would be a 
miracle. 

She supposed they were going to live on fried eggs and 
bacon for six weeks, for she saw no other method of cook- 
ing on that stove. 

“ Dear Sanders, we can have hotch-potch and Irish stew 
like other gypsies ; we have a caldron and a tripod, we have 
nothing to do but to collect a few sticks,” said Virginia. 

“ Well, it beats me what pleasure two young ladies and 
a gentleman can find in leaving comfortable homes, to come 
and live in a wagon, not big enough to swing a cat in,” 


120 


LOTTIE^ S WOOING, 


But we have no desire to swing cats, Sanders,” inter- 
rupted Jack. 

“ There is no accounting for tastes ; if you had been 
born to it, you would have found it hard enough. I suppose 
it is the change you like. I believe there are some folks 
who, if they ever get to heaven, will want a change after a 
year or two, they will want to try the climate of the other 
place,” said Sanders grimly. 

“ Don’t talk of climates, Sanders ; did you ever see such 
a day for the beginning of June ? It is true that we have 
plenty of weather but no climate in this country. I don’t 
wonder you are not in love with our prospects,” said 
Virginia. 

It was a dull gray day on which only an artist’s eye 
could detect any color ; it was very cold for the time of 
year ; the sun tried vainly to peep out ; now and then a 
faint gleam, like a sad smile, touched the middle distance 
of the landscape; altogether the prospect was certainly 
not inspiring. 

“ We’ll have a cup ‘ to cheer but not inebriate ’ us, my 
kettle will boil directly ; we had better have it inside our 
mansion to-day,” said Jack. 

“ What are you going to do after tea ? It puzzles me to 
think what you mean to do all day in this wagon,” said 
Sanders. 

We shall find plenty to do, we have brought books and 
work ; I shall do some basket making ; and I mean to 
sketch when I can do so without fear of being seen ; for a 
gypsy sketching would at once betray our origin was not 
Zingarese,” said Virginia. 

She had forbidden the others to bring prose works 
except Jack’s class books; only poetry she maintained was 
suitable to such an Arcadian life, so Shakspere, Dante, 
Goethe, Tennyson, and Browning formed their library. 
Jack pointed out that for gypsies to be found reading 
Browning or Dante was as incongruous as gypsies sketch- 
ing or doing such fine embroidery as Kitty had brought 
with her ; but Kitty could not have lived without embroid- 
ery, she was rarely seen without a piece in her hands. 

“ Well, now, Miss Willoughby, what do you propose 
doing to-night ? If we stay here we shall have all Ciren- 


IN ARDEN. 


I2I 


cester out to gape at us. I had half the natives following 
me on my arrival,” said Jack. 

“ How far off is the next town ? ” 

“ Ten miles, it is only a small place near that wonderful 
common where the golf links are ; Minchinhampton is its 
name, I think,” said Jack. 

“ Well, that is too far to go to-night ; besides we may as 
well see something of Bathurst Park, which is close by,” 
said Virginia. 

Suppose we go on to the lodge, it is only a little way, and 
see if they would let us camp inside the gates for to-night,” 
said Jack. 

“ I don't in the least think they will, as we are only 
gypsies,” said Virginia. 

“ We will try a silver key, perhaps that will unlock the 
gates,” said Kitty. 

“ All right, give the word when you wish to start, and 
I’ll put our fiery steed in,” said Jack. 

Half an hour later they started for the Park gates, Vir- 
ginia and Kitty on the box. Jack, leading the horse and 
Sanders bringing up the rear, having scorned to accept a 
seat in the van. 

Virginia was in high glee and even Kitty seemed to 
enjoy the situation ; it was a new sensation, and they were 
both sorry when they reached the Park gates. 

Now I’ll tackle the gatekeeper, and see if we can get 
inside for to-night,” said Jack, going forward whip in hand 
and ringing the lodge bell, which was speedily answered 
by a venerable old man, who with two large keys in his 
hand might have sat for St. Peter. 

The van was not close enough for the girls to hear what 
was going on, but evidently Jack, who had been bowing 
obsequiously, was unsuccessful, for the gate was finally 
closed. 

“ It is no good ; no tramps are admitted. Not knowing 
Romany, I spoke my best Jersey patois^ but to no pur- 
pose.” 

“ Tramps, indeed ! What insolence ! Let me see what 
I can do,” said Virginia haughtily, as she jumped lightly 
down from her perch and advanced to the gate. 

The lodge-keeper saw her coming, and something in her 


122 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


manner arrested his attention and made him open the gate 
again. 

“ My good man, will you kindly allow us to place our 
caravan just inside your gates for to-night ? We shall be 
happy to pay for the accommodation ; we are liable to 
annoyance from the townspeople if we remain outside,” 
said Virginia, who had wrapped a red shawl gypsywise over 
her head and shoulders. 

The dress might be the dress of a gypsy, but the voice 
was the voice of a lady, and the manner the manner of a 
queen, and the situation was at once changed ; the old 
gatekeeper civilly consented to admit them, remarking 
that he thought there was something odd about the young 
gentleman, for gypsies did not often prefer such requests. 

“ Perhaps you could get a bed at the lodge instead of 
going back to the inn at Cirencester, Jack,” said Virginia, 
as having pitched their tent for the night the three young 
people started on a ramble through the Park, leaving San- 
ders to prepare supper in their absence. 

“ I’ll go and ask him,” said Jack, but he returned to say 
an artist was occupying the only spare room, or the lodge 
people would gladly have accommodated him. 

“ Oh, how tiresome ; if I had known that we would have 
gone somewhere else ; I do hope we shan’t come across 
him,” said Virginia. 

“ We are almost sure to meet him, we are so close to the 
cottage,” said Kitty. 

If we do we must pretend to be real gypsies and talk as 
like them as we can ; any patois will do,” said Vi. 

“ You betrayed us this time, Vi, but I know you’ll always 
do that if we are treated like real gypsies,” said Kitty. 

“ Oh, no, I shan’t, but I could not let us be set down as 
tramps,” said Miss Willoughby laughing. 

She looked very picturesque with her red shawl wound 
artistically round her beautiful head and shoulders, as she 
walked across the long grass, stopping every now and then 
to gather some wild flower, occasionally uttering a cry of 
delight if she came across anything rather rare. 

“ Oh, here’s herb-paris ; I never found it before. Oh, 
how rich I feel. Look, Kitty, it is true-lover’s knot, do you 
see ? ” said Virginia, holding the plant with its small purple 


IN ARDEN 


123 


flower half hidden in the four leaves,, supposed to form the 
lover’s knot, set at right angles at the top of it. 

Kitty gave a deep sigh, presumably for the inconstant 
Alec, and remarked it was not a pretty plant. 

“ And here is a bee-orchis ! Oh, how lovely ; I have 
found six different orchises this evening ; tway-blade and 
the early purple are common enough, but green helleborine, 
white helleborine, and the bee-orchis are rarer, and I have 
found a fly-orchis as well ; what a splendid place for wild 
flowers ; you see it is wild, and yet enclosed, so they don’t 
get rooted up.” 

“ I don’t care for those rare things ; I like common blue- 
bells much better,” said Kitty, who was filling her hands 
with the wild hyacinths which carpeted the ground. 

Presently Virginia, who was a few yards in advance of 
the others, called out in a pleased voice : 

“ Oh, come here, Kitty and Jack ! I have actually found 
fritillary or snake’s head. Look, isn’t it lovely? such a 
pretty, graceful, bell-shaped corolla, and the color is very 
high art ; I wish I could find more.” 

Just at that moment Jack touched Virginia’s elbow, and 
looking round in the direction he contrived to indicate 
with a look, she saw an artist sitting under a tree close to 
her, with an easel in front of him, palette and brushes in 
his hands, and his color box at his feet. 

He could hardly have failed to hear what Virginia said, 
he was so close to them ; but she had been too much 
engaged in botanizing to notice him. Apparently he was 
much interested in observing them, for he had stopped 
painting and put an eye-glass into one eye to enable him to 
see them better. 

All Virginia had time to see in the brief glance she gave 
him was a very fair man, apparently about thirty, in an old 
black velvet coat and a smoking cap and a pipe in his 
mouth. 

For a moment dead silence fell on the gypsy trio, and then 
Jack, with a view to saving the situation, said in a villainous 
Jersey patois : 

Let us get away as fast as we can ; I expect this is the 
artist who is staying at the lodge.” 

Virginia did not understand what Jack was saying, but 


124 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


she answered in French, as they moved off in the opposite 
direction . 

“ He is an awfully good-looking fellow, but I wish he 
would cut his hair,” said Jack in English when they were 
out of hearing. 

“ He must have heard what you said, Vi, he will know we 
are not gypsies, and perhaps try and strike up an acquaint- 
ance,” said Kitty. 

“ Oh, no, he won’t ; we must talk the broadest dialect we 
can and drop him a courtesy if we come across him again. 
I’ll hang up some of my baskets for sale to-morrow, and 
when he goes to his sketching, I shall be sitting on the steps 
of the caravan, with skeins and^ rods round me, weaving a 
basket,” said Virginia. 

After this there was less botanizing done that evening, 
and the unknown artist formed the principal topic of con- 
versation for the rest of the walk. 

They speculated on who he was, where he came from, 
what he was painting, whether he would venture to address 
them, and the way he was to be treated if he did. 

“ It is very tiresome, but I don’t suppose it is anyone we 
are likely to know, it is only some artist,” said Vi. 

“ I believe you are longing to know him, Vi,” said 
Kitty. 

“ No, I am not. But I think it would be grand fun to 
take him in, and make him think we are gypsies, and vastly 
inferior to him, and then some day turn the tables and let 
him know he is vastly inferior to us, as I have no doubt he 
is,” said Virginia in her proud way. 

“ He may be a gentleman, but we shall soon find out, 
unless you propose leaving at daybreak to-morrow,” said 
Jack. 

“I propose staying another night here if they’ll let us; 
we have not half explored this lovely Park yet,” said 
Virginia. 

They relumed to the van about half-past eight, at which 
time they had ordered supper ; it was still quite light outside, 
but Sanders had lighted the lamp inside the van, and it 
looked quite cosy with the cloth laid and a dish of fried 
eggs and bacon awaiting them. 

“ I have had my supper, so I’ll sit outside ; there is no room 


IN ARDEN. 125 

to wait at table,” said Saunders as the trio seated themselves 
and did ample justice to the fare she had provided. 

‘‘ I have had that artjst prying about since you were gone, 
but he did not get much change out of me. He wanted me 
to tell his fortune, but I told him I had my supper to cook 
and no time to waste on him ; so he is coming to-morrow 
morning for one of you to tell it. I should think we had 
better move on before he comes ; it won’t do for either of 
you young ladies to be telling gentlemen fortunes. Mrs. 
Willoughby would die of horror if she knew it.” 

“ But she won’t know it, my dear Sanders ; I mean to tell 
his fortune and sell him a basket, too ; we shall get one din- 
ner out of him to-morrow. Oh, I forgot, it is Sunday ! I 
shan’t be able to, but we are not going to leave here till 
Monday,” said Virginia. 

“ Pray, Miss Vi, are you and Miss Kitty going to church 
to-morrow ? ” asked Sanders. 

“ That will entirely depend upon the artist’s movements, 
if he is out of the way, and we can slip out in our cloaks 
and hats without being seen by him or the lodge people, we 
shall go. Jack, you might breakfast at the inn and meet 
us at the abbey in your own clothes ; no one here will 
know who we are, they’ll think we are visitors.” 

“ All right ; I’ll draw the water for your baths and break- 
fast to-night, and put our fiery steed up at the inn till Mon- 
day ; he will probably run away with us as the result,” said. 
Jack, who soon after went off on the horse’s back. 

Virginia and Kitty then undressed and climbed into their 
hammocks and were sound asleep before Sanders came in 
and locked the door and got into her berth. 

The first thing that greeted Miss Willoughby on emerging 
from the van, fresh from her cold bath the next morning, 
was a large bunch of fritillaries tied up and laid on a ledge 
just outside the van. 

‘‘Where can they have come from?” said Virginia to 
Sanders, who was waiting till Kitty was dressed to go in and 
prepare breakfast. 

“ I don’t know, they weren’t here when I fetched your 
bath water. I expect Mr. Jack brought them while I was 
gone for the milk.” 

“ Yes, it must have been Jack, of course,” said Virgin! ; 


126 


LOTTIE'S WOOING, 


but afterward when Jack was questioned he denied all 
knowledge of the flowers, and he and Kitty teased Vi all 
day by saying the artist must have brought them. 

After breakfast, while Sanders made the beds, the girls 
sat down on the steps of the van, waiting to see if they 
could slip unseen out of the park, but the artist was smoking 
at the open window of the little front room, so unless they 
went to church in their gypsy costumes they dared not 
venture. 

“ I wish that artist would go to church,” said Virginia, 
who was arranging her fritillaries. 

He is too much interested in watching us to move,” said 
Kitty, as the abbey bells began to chime. 

“ Here come St. Peter and his wife and his wife’s mother,” 
said Vi, as the door of the lodge opened and the lodge- 
keeper followed by two women, one of whom was quite old, 
came out and walked in single file to the gates. 

They were all in their go-to-meeting clothes and carried 
large prayer-books and clean folded pocket handkerchiefs 
in their hands. 

The man bowed obsequiously to the two girls, and Vir- 
ginia called out for the artist’s benefit, 

“ Top of the morning to you, sir, and a fine day it be.” 

“ Don’t, Vi, that wretched artist is in a fit ; we shall have 
him here directly,” said Kitty. 

“ Never mind, Sanders will settle him if we can’t,” said 
Virginia. 

No sooner were the lodge people gone to church, than 
the artist, who had apparently been waiting for their depart- 
ure, appeared in the little garden with his easel and camp- 
stool in his arms and a pipe in his mouth. 

The girls had a good view of him as he sauntered slowly 
up the garden path, pausing for a minute or two at the gate 
to adjust his things more comfortably, and finally striding 
off across the park without taking any further notice of 
them. 

He was a tall finely built man ; his hair, which as Jack 
had remarked was too long, was golden, and he wore a 
mustache and an imperial to match ; his skin was tanned 
from exposure to the sun, probably in a hot climate, and he 
was decidedly very good-looking. 


IN ARDEN. 


127 


“ He is very handsome,” said Kitty. 

“ And very impertiment,” said Virginia, looking vexed, 
for she was inclined to resent the artist’s movement. Had 
he spoken to them he would have been called insolent, 
because he avoided them, he was judged impertinent. 

“Well, as they are all gone out, we may as well make 
ourselves respectable and go to church,” said Kitty. 

Virginia agreed, and twenty minutes later, as they sailed 
up the aisle of the abbey in their traveling cloaks and hats, 
the lodge-keeper, who watched them, had no idea they had 
any connection with the gypsies who were encamped out- 
side his cottage. 

After the service Jack, who was in his proper clothes, 
joined them, and they walked about the town till dinner 
time, when he went to the inn to change his clothes, and 
the girls went toward the Park. 

“ We shall have to take off our cloaks and hats outside ; 
all Cirencester wanders about the park to-day, so we are 
sure to be caught if we don’t. Look here, Kitty, we will 
take them off here and you shall sit upon them, while 1 run 
to the van for a shawl, then we will tie them up in it and 
carry them home as if we had been sticking.” 

Virginia did as she proposed, and presently the artist, 
who was watching for them from his window, saw the two 
gypsies, with a huge bundle between them containing their 
cloaks, hats, sunshades, and gloves, enter the park and dis- 
appear inside the van. 

“ We have done that artist again ; how lucky I thought 
of it,” said Vi as Jack joined them, and they sat down to 
their dinner of mutton chops and fried potatoes. 

“I don’t think we have ; I am sure he suspects we are 
not gypsies by his manner,” said Kitty. 

“ He is getting very impertinent ; he spends his time in 
watching you young ladies ; it is Miss Vi he is struck with, 
I think,” said Sanders. 

“ Nonsense, Sanders,” said Virginia sharply, and Sanders 
went off in a tiff to wish audibly she had never lived to 
come to such a pass as living in a van, and to assert she 
meant to have her Sunday out, van or no van. 

This being the case, and the day being rather warm, they 
locked up the van after dinner, packed their tea in their 


128 


LOTTIE'S WOOmC. 


basket, took the kettle and Browning with them and 
wandered away to find a shady and secluded nook to spend 
the afternoon in. 

. They found an ideal spot on a grassy mound under a 
beech tree whose fresh green foliage was just out, here they 
spread a rug and laid down and began “ The Ring and the 
Book,” taking it in turns to read aloud. 

Kitty eventually fell asleep, but Jack and Virginia were 
so interested in the sad fate of the beautiful Pompilia, the 
diamond in the ring, that they were unconscious how late it 
was till Kitty woke, and looking at her watch, exclaimed 
it was nearly six o’clock. 

“ Just let me read the address to Mrs. Browning at the 
end,” said Vi, and in her rich voice she read the passage 
beginning : 

“ Oh ! Lyric Love/half angel and half bird, 

And all a wonder and a wild desire.” 

As she finished a cough startled them, and looking in the 
direction from which it came, they saw the artist sauntering 
slowly past a few yards away, apparently quite unconscious 
of their presence. 

“ Do you think he heard ? ” said Virginia anxiously. 

“ I am sure he did,” said Kitty. 

“ Shall I go and punch his head ? ” said Jack. 

“ For coughing ? Certainly not. It was no doubt an 
accident, but Kitty likes to try and tease me,” said Vir- 
ginia, but in her heart she hoped and believed the cough- 
ing was a sign he had overheard her reading, and thought 
the artist certainly gave a piquancy to the situation. 


CHAPTER XIV. 

Lottie’s decoration. 

The first purpose of clothes, according to the immortal 
Teufelsdrockh, is decoration, and says he “ the first spiritual 
want of a barbarous man is Decoration, but for Decoration 
he must have clothes.” 

What is true of a barbarous man is equally true of 


LOTTIE'S DECORATION. 


129 


civilized woman, her first and, shall we say it ? often her last 
spiritual want is decoration. Lottie Vaughan was the last 
woman in the world to undervalue the use of decoration ; 
she did not know that the great clothes-philosopher had 
put on record for all time that Clothes give us indi- 
viduality, distinction, and social polity,” but she was fully of 
this opinion, though probably a different course of reason- 
ing had brought her to this conclusion. 

She was further determined that her costume for the 
duke’s garden party should give her individuality, therefore 
it behooved her to select something specially suited to her, 
which no one else was likely to wear ; it would give her 
distinction, therefore it must be artistic, uncommon, strik- 
ing ; it should give her social polity, therefore it must be 
consistent with her position in life, something that would 
not look out of place in the duke’s drawing room, nor in 
Mr. Barrett’s dog-cart, which was to take her to and from 
the party. 

For a day or two after the invitation came, Lottie was 
evidently worried ; she scolded James, gave Mary notice to 
leave, snapped at Mrs. Vaughan, raged against Alec Wil- 
loughby, and whipped the bull-terrier on the slightest provo- 
cation. The whippings were not very severe, and seemed 
to act as an outlet to Lottie’s feelings, and as a stimulant 
to the dog’s affections, for he was daily becoming devoted 
to his mistress, who pretended to dislike him. 

He slept on a mat outside her door ; he followed her 
everywhere, lay at her feet when she sat down, and if she 
went out without him was miserable until she returned, 
when his joy knew no bounds. This joy took the usual 
canine form of jumping up her dress, and was frequently 
damped by a whipping. 

“You wretched dog. Sell ; it will cost me double what it 
used to cost for dress, if I don’t break you of this idiotic 
trick.” 

“ I believe you like it really, Lottie,” said Lily, but 
Lottie denied the soft impeachment. 

The dog was named Sell, because in the first place Lottie 
said he was a great sell, for she never wanted a dog, and in 
the second because it was an easy name to call. 

“ I can’t think what is the matter with Lottie lately, she 


130 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


seems out of sorts. I hope she is not worried about money. 
I shall write to your Aunt Margaret and tell her how badly 
off we are, and that you girls have nothing to put on," said 
Mrs. Vaughan, one day about a week before the garden 
party. 

Lottie will be very angry if you do, mother," said Lily. 

“ I don’t care if she is ; I would rather see her angry than 
worried as she now is." 

The next day, however, Lottie became herself again. She 
had only been enduring the throes of conception, just as 
most authors are nervous and irritable while composing the 
plots of their stories, so she had been worried while evolv- 
ing the design of the costume or decoration which was to 
captivate Mr. Barrett. 

She had had many ideas, but the limits of her purse 
made them all impracticable, and this it was which worried 
her, as day by day went on, and she could not fix on a 
dress. At last one morning, a week before the garden 
party, she was in the kitchen where the butter for the week 
was laid on the table, each deep yellow roll wrapped up in 
a sort of coarse creamy white muslin. 

“ Do you know where your mother gets this stuff you 
wrap the butter in ? " said Lottie to the girl who brought 
it. 

“ Yes, ma’am ; please, ma’am, at the draper’s ; it is butter- 
cloth, ma’am, and it is three halfpence a yard ; five farthings 
if you take the piece of forty yards.” 

Lottie danced out of the kitchen into the morning room 
where Lily was working and Mrs. Vaughan nodding over a 
book. 

“I have it at last. The world is a different place to 
what it was five minutes ago ; two whole weeks have I 
racked my brains in vain. I should have gone mad, I verily 
believe, if such poverty of thought had lasted much longer, 
but now that blessed, blessed girl has solved the problem." 

“ What girl ? What problem ? ’’ asked Lily with a sad 
little smile she often wore now. 

“ My dress, dear child ; my dress for the duke’s party. I 
am going to make it of butter-cloth at three halfpence a 
yard. Even I need not limit myself to quantity, so I can 
make it as elaborately as I like," said Lottie. 


LOTTIE* S DECORATION-. 


131 

‘‘ Lottie ! You don’t mean to say you are actually going 
to demean yourself by going to a dukes garden party in 
a dress made of common butter-cloth at three halfpence a 
yard ! You can’t and shan’t,” exclaimed Mrs. Vaughan, 
holding up her little fat red hands in horror. 

“ My dear mother, I can and shall ; it will be perfectly 
lovely. No one will have the least idea what it is made of, 
or what it will cost, and I should not in the least mind if 
everyone knew. Come with me, Lily, I am going to buy 
my butter-cloth.” 

While the girls were gone Mrs. Vaughan exerted herself 
to write to their aunt and tell her the straits they were 
reduced to, in the hope that she would send them some- 
thing either in money, or in kind. 

The answer to this letter, which arrived in a few days, 
was to the effect that Aunt Margaret had sent with her very 
best love a box of clothes, cast-off clothes but not old, and 
hoped the dear girls would find something to suit them 
both, which would do for the duke’s garden party. 

“ The dear girls won’t find anything of the kind. I know 
exactly what the old screw will send : a faded muslin and 
an old silk dress made in the year one, of an impossible 
color, which would cost more than it is worth to dye, and 
she’ll put in an old-fashioned cape of some kind for you, a 
fatal thing which you shall never have on in my lifetime,” 
said Lottie, whose prophesy as to the precise form her 
aunt’s benevolence would take was exactly fulfilled when 
the box arrived. 

“ There is nothing there to help you. Pray what are you 
going to trim this wonderful dress with, Lottie ? The 
trimming will cost more than the dress,” said Mrs. Vaughan 
regretfully. 

‘‘ The trimming will cost nothing, nor will the hat ; I am 
going to make the hat of some old real lace I have, and 
trim it and the dress with real live buttercups out of the 
fields. I shall wear my gold zone belt which Captain 
Bruce gave me, and I shall look, ahem ! charming,” said 
Lottie. 

The reader, who perhaps thinks too much time has been 
spent over Lottie’s dress, is requested to remember the 
important end of this decoration ; it was to take Mr. 


132 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


Barrett’s heart by storm that such elaborate means were 
employed. 

Suffice it to say, the dress was fearfully and wonderfully 
made, it fell in soft clinging draperies, it fitted perfectly, 
the buttercups were most artistically disposed about it, and 
when Lottie appeared dressed for the party, Mrs. Vaughan 
was obliged to confess she had never seen her look so well. 

The gold belt made the little round waist look smaller 
than ever, the white and yellow harmonized with Lottie’s 
fresh complexion, and she looked, as she had promised to 
look, charming. She was not pretty, but her pretty figure, 
and her beautiful golden hair, beautifully dressed under the 
coquettish little hat, and her good-humored face made her 
worth looking at, apart from her taking manner and her 
successful decoration. 

She looked well even by the side of her pretty sister, who 
looked prettier than ever in the palest of blue dresses. 

“ Lily, there is one thing I beg of you. Don’t come 
near me after we arrive ; flirt as much as you like with Mr. 
Green-Turner, or Mr. Long, or Mr. Short, or all three, but 
keep away from me,” said Lottie. 

“Why?” 

“ My dear child, give me a chance. I am fearfully handi- 
capped with such a pretty young sister as you ; no one will 
look at me while you are near. Here is Mr. Barrett ; now, 
mother, wish us luck ; it is the young horse and it won’t 
stand, we must go at once. Good-by ” ; and Lottie kissed 
her mother and ran out of the house, taking care to let 
Mr. Barrett have a good view of her before she covered 
herself in a dust cloak. 

The horse reared and capered a little at starting, and 
then went like the wind, leaving fat Mrs. Vaughan con- 
gratulating herself she was not behind it, and prophesying 
Mr. Barrett would break his neck one day, if he would drive 
such spirited cattle. 

George Barrett was an excellent listener, particularly 
when he was driving a horse that required a good deal of 
attention, so he listened with pleasure to Lottie as she 
chattered away to him in her pretty voice. She had plenty 
of small-talk, but afterward, when he tried to remember 
what she had been babbling so pleasantly about, he had a 


LOTTIE* S DECORATIOET. I33 

vague recollection that it was nearly all about herself or 
himself, except once when she touched on Jack. 

“ He is very happy. He is too lazy to write, but he sends 
us a card now and then to say he is enjoying his trip 
immensely.” 

“ Is that young Willoughby with them ? ” 

“ Not that I know of. Jack would have been sure to men- 
tion him ; why there is Mr. Willoughby, surely ?” exclaimed 
Lottie as they just drove past the Willoughbys’ carriage 
with the general and his wife and son inside. 

He bowed effusively as they passed, but Lily would not 
see him, though her little heart beat fast at the unexpected 
meeting, and for the rest of the drive she was busy rehears- 
ing the way in which she would cut him, if they met at the 
party, to which he was evidently going. 

Lottie’s spirits rose higher and higher as they drove 
through the lovely park in which art and nature have con- 
spired together to make it one of the most beautiful in 
England. The grand pine- clad hill crowned with the hunt- 
ing tower and divided by the white foam of the waterfall, 
which dashed like a flash of light down it, formed a back- 
ground against which the duke’s mansion stood out boldly ; 
lakes, waterfalls, cascades, fountains, miniature hills and 
dales, rhododendron groves, and other efforts of landscape 
gardening made up the foreground of the picture. 

A military band was playing, and the bright colors of the 
ladies’ dresses, dotted about the lawns, added to the beauty 
of the scene, as carriage after carriage drove up and set 
down the guests in front of the pavilion where the duke and 
duchess received them. 

Miss Savage was waiting close by to introduce the 
girls, and as Barrett removed Lottie’s dust-cloak, he 
whispered : * 

“ Your dress is prefect;” and Lottie followed Miss Savage 
thinking that her decoration has not been in vain. 

Mr. Green-Turner and Mr. Short both pounced on Lily 
like two birds of prey, and carried her off between them, 
almost immediately ; Mr. Long following to keep the peace, 
as he laughingly said to Miss Savage. 

The duke detained Mr. Barrett for some time, but he 
managed to tell Lottie not to go away, promising to take her 


134 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


over some of the grounds as soon as he was at liberty, and 
needless to say Lottie took care to wait. 

Meanwhile the Willoughbys arrived, Mrs. Willoughby 
looking so grand and stiff and with so much presence, that 
Miss Savage whispered to Lottie she had evidently bought 
a new backbone for the occasion. She scarcely designed to 
notice Lottie, with whom the general at once began to joke, 
begging for a buttercup from her posy for his buttonhole, 
and discarding a rare orchid in favor of it. 

Lottie received Alec very coldly ; he at first thought this 
was merely to put his father and mother, who did not know 
of his former intimacy with the Vaughans, off the scent, but 
he soon found out this was not the reason for her coldness. 

“ Where is Lily ? ” he whispered when his father was not 
listening. 

“ My sister is here, surrounded by a crowd of admirers,” 
said Lottie. 

“ What do you mean ? ” said Alec savagely. 

“ What I say. Where is your fiaricle^ Miss Arundel ? ” 
retorted Lottie as Mrs. Willoughby with her gold pince-nez 
in her hand drew near and surveyed her carefully from 
head to foot. 

“ What a charming dress. Miss Vaughan. It the material 
of foreign manufacture ? ” she asked. 

“ Impertient old cat, she knows what it is,” thought Lottie, 
as she replied she was not aware that it was of foreign make. 

“ And what capital buttercups ! Where did you buy 
them ? They look so natural.” 

“ They are natural. I got them out of the fields. We 
never wear anything but real flowers. I can’t bear artifi- 
cial,” said Lottie, with a wicked look at Mrs. Willougby’s 
Trench flowers and an imitation of her grand manner, which 
edified Mr. Barrett, who was listening, exceedingly. 

“ Indeed ! general, don’t forget we are going to the house 
to tea ; my cousin, her grace, has just asked us, so don’t go 
away with Miss Vaughan,” said Mrs. Willoughby, “whose 
annual delight was to be asked into the house to tea, instead 
of going into the tents with the general crowd. 

“ Miss Vaughan is going to the house to tea, and her 
sister also, the duchess has just told me to be sure and 
bring them ; but there is an hour before tea time. Come 


LOTTIE'S DECORATION, 


135 


and see the big fountains, Miss Vaughan,” said Mr. Barrett, 
who was delighted to give Mrs. Willoughby such a set 
down after her rudeness to Lottie. 

“We have one bond of union, Mr. Barrett, dislike of 
Mrs. Willoughby,” said Lottie, as she moved off with 
Barrett, followed like a shadow by Mr. Savage, who 
muttered to himself on hearing this : 

“ It is the only bond you shall ever have if I can ever 
help it.” 

For half an hour Lottie tried in vain to shake Mr. Savage 
off, but he persistently stuck to them, until at last they got 
rid of him at the band stand, where he fell into conversa- 
tion with a musical friend about viols and viol music, and 
Barrett and Lottie were left to their own devices. 

Presently they came upon Lily seated under a tree with 
Mr. Green-Turner at her feet, Mr. Short sitting on one side 
of her and Mr. Long lying on his back on the other side 
acting as umpire in all the disputes between his clerical 
brethren. 

“ We had better tell Lily to meet us at the house at tea 
time,” said Lottie to Mr. Barrett, who looked rather 
annoyed at Lily’s behavior, for though “ there is safety in 
numbers,” says Rory O’More, he felt she was laying herself 
open to criticism. 

Lottie interpreted his looks and resolved to give Lily a 
hint. 

“ Lily, do you know you are doing a very dangerous 
thing ?” she said in a meaning tone. 

“ Yes, indeed you are. Miss Lily, you are sitting under 
an elm ; the boughs are liable to drop off,” said Barrett. 

“ By Jupiter, so we are,” exclaimed Mr. Long, to the. 
scandal of both his brethren of the cloth as he jumped up. 

“ But there is no wind,” said Lily. 

“ The boughs of elms generally drop in calm weather ; 
the branches rot and fall suddenly,” said Mr. Long. 

“ We had better move then,” said Lily, rising. 

“ Go and listen to the band, and look at the dresses, and 
meet us at the house at five,” said Lottie. 

“ I can’t help it, Lottie, they will all three follow me 
about like dogs,” whispered Lily, as she moved away 
followed by her suite. 


136 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


A few minutes later she had the supreme pleasure of 
cutting Alec Willoughby dead, and sending him off in a 
fury to sulk and wonder who had told her about Kitty, 
whom at that moment he cordially hated. 

“ I wonder what Alec Willoughby is doing down here. I 
thought his father had forbidden him to enter Workwell,” 
said Lottie as she strolled through the rhododendron grove 
with Mr. Barrett, he showing a desire to keep near his 
fellow-creatures, Lottie wishing and trying to avoid them. 

He was a cautious man and did not want to be talked 
about ; he was also proud of his companion, who was 
undoubtedly one of the most attractive girls at the party, 
and he liked to be seen with her. 

“ Willoughby, oh ! he is home on leave, so the general 
told me. He was obliged to take his leave now, and there 
is no reason why he should not come to Workwell if Miss 
Arundel is away.” 

“ Do you think he cares for her ? ” 

‘‘ No, but I have no doubt he will marry her, because she 
has money and he has none.” 

“ How mercenary ! ” exclaimed Lottie. 

Do you think so ? I am surprised that a practical 
sensible girl like you, should think it mercenary for a poor 
man to marry a rich woman for the sake of money, or vice 
versa!' 

Lottie felt the hot blood rush to her face and her guilty 
conscience for the moment would not let her shake off the 
uncomfortable feeling of shame which overwhelmed her. 
Was it possible Mr. Barrett had divined her intentions with 
regard to him and considered her mercenary ? 

The next moment her woman’s wit saved her. 

“ I should think it mercenary of Alec Willoughby be- 
cause I believe he loves someone else ; when a poor man 
loves a rich girl and marries her, or,” and here Lottie 
paused a moment and then added, “ or vice versa, then I 
don’t call it mercenary.” 

“ Perhaps not,” said Barrett with a peculiar smile, which 
Lottie failed to interpret. 

“ I wonder if the mansion is big enough to hold Mrs. 
Willoughby ; she is in very grand form to-day. She’ll 
scarcely deign to speak to me, who am only the duke’s 


LOTTIE'S DECORATION. 137 

agent you know,” said Mr. Barrett, as they went in to 
tea. 

I have no patience with that woman. The general is 
a dear old man in spite of his gout, or his liver, or his tem- 
per, which I suppose are all three forms of the same disease. 
If ever I marry, it will be a man who has no form of it,” 
said Lottie, knowing her companion was an exceedingly 
healthy, good-tempered man. 

During tea-time Mrs. Willoughby, who had just remarked 
to the duchess, who did not agree with her, that the Vaug- 
hans were not quite the best style, came up to Lottie and 
remarked in her sweetest tones : 

“Your sister is the only pretty girl here. Miss Vaughan. 
Do bring her up to tea while my son is at home, and tell 
me how your brother is getting on.” 

“ Thanks ; I will come with pleasure, but my sister is 
not strong. I am afraid she could not walk so far,” said 
Lottie, thinking and knowing Lily would die rather than go 
to Greenhouse while Alec was at home. 

Alec made several efforts to get some notice from Lily 
during tea, but she ignored him utterly, and it was clear 
she was deeply offended and intended to have no more to 
do with him, beyond driving him wild by the way in which 
she encouraged Mr. Green-Turner, while poor Mr. Short 
confessed to Mr. Long his case was, he feared, hope- 
less. 

On the whole the two girls had enjoyed themselves im- 
mensely ; they had been noticed by the ducal party and ad- 
mired by others, Lily was secretly very glad to find the 
faithless Alec was not only in the neighborhood but appar- 
ently had not forgotten her, and Lottie would have been 
satisfied with the effect produced on Mr. Barrett by her 
dress, but for something which occurred just as they were 
leaving. 

Mr. Barrett was standing talking to Miss Savage close 
by a group of which Lottie formed one, when the two 
former moved off to look at some flower, Lottie was fol- 
lowing them when Mr. Savage touched her elbow and stopped 
her. 

“ Let them go alone, they don’t often get the opportunity 
of a he said with sundry meaning nods and winks. 


LOTTIES WOOING. 


138 

Certainly, if they desire it ” said Lottie coldly, for she 
reciprocated Mr. Savage’s dislike. 

“They do ; Barrett, I don’t mind telling you, has pro- 
posed to Marion over and over again. She will never 
marry in my lifetime, but if I were to die, and I might die 
any day, I am not strong, not at all strong, why, she would 
marry him directly.” 

“ Would she, indeed ? What a pretty valse the band is • 
playing, now, how I wish we could dance,” said Lottie care- 
lessly, and though Mr. Savage watched the effect of his 
words, he could not detect the slightest sign of emotion. 

In reality the news was about as pleasant as if he had 
held her, buttercups and all, under one of the fountains ; 
she felt crushed and limp, and like the Queen of Sheba, 

“ there was no more spirit in her.” 

It was true then. Miss Savage was really her rival, she 
had always suspected it, now she knew it, perhaps Mr. Bar- 
rett held back from her because he was already engaged 
to Miss Savage ; at any rate she would find that out going 
home, and she longed for the time for leaving to arrive. 

At last that time came, and she jumped up into the high 
dog-cart by the side of George Barrett with the resolution 
to know the worst before they got home. 

“ I am afraid you are very tired,” said Barrett during the 
journey, for he saw Lottie was not in her usual spirits, 
though both she and Lily had assured him they had never 
enjoyed a party so much before. 

“ Indeed, I am not,” she answered, and then, after a 
short pause, she asked : 

“ Does Mr. Savage always speak the truth ? ” 

“ Savage ! Yes, I believe so, except when he gets on to 
building, he talks nonsense then ; why? ” 

“ Only because he has been telling me something I didn’t 
know before.” 

“ What was that ? ” 

“ That you and Miss Savage were going to be married.” 

“ Did he tell you that ? It is most certainly untrue.” 

Lottie’s spirits began to rise, but she was not yet quite 
satisfied. 

“ He said it would not be in his lifetime, but immedi- 
ately afterward.” 


LOTTIE'S DECORATION. 


139 


** *• The funeral baked meats shall coldly furnish forth the 
marriage tables ’ eh ! Poor old boy, why he will probably 
outlive both Marion and me, I was going to say all of us, 
but you are much younger. What made him tell you 
that } " 

“ I don’t know,” said Lottie, in such a demure fashion 
that Barrett went into a fit of laughter, and thought his 
companion did not grow less dangerous on further acquaint- 
ance. 

“ What amuses you so much ? ” said Lottie. 

“ You do, you little witch,” said Barnett in an under- 
tone. 

“ May I congratulate you ? ” said Lottie. 

“ On having one of the sweetest women on earth for my 
dearest friend, yes,” said Barrett, and there was something 
in his manner which prevented even Lottie from asking 
any further questions. 

They are not engaged, but she is a formidable rival ; he 
evidently worships her, and his love is based on reverence ; 
if he ever loves me, it will be based on something very 
different. Well, she has brains on her side, and she has 
had beauty ; I have youth and knowledge of the world, 
and something which I can’t give a name on my side ; I 
wonder who will win,” thought Lottie. 

Mrs. .Vaughan was at the gate looking anxiously out for 
them on their return. 

“ I am glad you are home, I was getting very nervous,” 
she said, as Mr. Barrett lifted the girls out of the dog-cart. 

“ Why, mother, Mr. Barrett is the best’whip in the neigh- 
borhood,” said Lottie, knowing Barrett prided himself on 
his driving. 

“And I have had the honor of escorting the prettiest 
and best-dressed girls to the duchess’ garden party ; thank 
you, for trusting them to me,” said Mr. Barrett as he bade 
them good-by. 

“Well, I never, Lottie; you have made a conquest to- 
day, and no mistake,” said Mrs. Vaughan, chuckling with 
delight at the success of her daughters. 

“ No, I have not, mother, I have had some skirmishing, 
and I have taken one or two outposts, but the citadel 
remains intact, and the enemy is stronger than I anticipated. 


140 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


I must send for some reinforcements and change my tactics. 
But come indoors and we will tell you all about the party," 
said Lottie. 

Her decoration had been a great success, nevertheless it 
was really a failure, as it had failed to achieve the object 
for which it was created. 

There are many such apparent successes and real failures 
in life, “ 'tis true 'tis pity, and pity ’tis, 'tis true." 


CHAPTER XV. 

IN THE VAN. 

“ I bring ye love. What will love do ? " 

“ Like and dislike ye.” 

Herrick. 

Virginia was an early riser at all times, her present 
rather close quarters at night induced her to get up as soon 
as she woke, and at five o’clock on Monday morning she 
started off to wander through the park to look for mush- 
rooms for breakfast, leaving Kitty and Sanders still fast 
asleep. 

It was a glorious morning, the air was cool and fresh, and 
there had been a slight frost although the month was 
June ; the dewdrops glistened like diamonds, and the 
atmosphere was so clear and bright, it sparkled in the sun- 
light like diamond dust. Virginia felt as if she had been 
dropped down in another planet, where the sun which 
lighted it shone brighter than our sun, where the trees and 
the grass were greener, the sky bluer, the air clearer than 
in this “ workaday world," which Rosalind found so full of 
briars. 

The air acted like mountain air upon her, it was so 
invigorating ; she felt so strong, and well, and happy, in 
spite of the fact that she was turned out of her home in 
disgrace, unmerited disgrace, but still disgrace, as she 
tripped lightly over the dewy grass, drinking in eagerly all 
the beauty of sight and sound around her. 

She rambled on^ now stopping to gather some mush- 


IN THE VAN, 


141 


rooms, or a wild flower, now to listen to the blackbirds and 
thrushes, the cuckoos and wood pigeons, the linnets and 
black-caps, who were giving a grand morning concert, 
while now and then she detected a nightingale singing his 
joyous song in defiance of the orchestra, which tried in vain 
to drown his solo. 

Now and then the unmistakable odor of a fox reached 
her delicate nostrils, and once, to her great delight, she 
just caught sight of two legs of an old fox returning to his 
hole after a nocturnal raid on neighboring farm-yards, and 
Virginia found herself wondering with regret when she 
would be following the hounds again, if ever. 

At last she found herself in a large round grassy space, 
the center of the park to which ten avenues converged, and 
Vi noticed six out of the ten long roads culminated in 
a church ; she sat down and looking at her watch found it 
was just seven o’clock, so by her calculations she must 
have walked at least four miles. 

I must not rest long or I shall be late for breakfast, and 
nothing makes Sanders so cross,” she thought, as she rose 
and set off to walk back to the van as quickly as she 
could. 

Close to the lodge she met Jack, who had been looking 
for her in every direction for the last two hours. 

“ You must have got up with the lark ; I was here at 
seven, hoping to be your companion.” 

“ It was hot in the van, so I got up when I woke. I have 
been to the Ten Rides, the place you were talking of 
yesterday, and I don’t mean to walk any more to-day. I 
am tired and as hungry as a hunter, but see what I have 
got for our breakfast,” said Virginia, holding out her basket 
of mushrooms for Jack’s inspection. 

“ These are not all mushrooms,” he said. 

“ No, but they are all edible fungi. If you have any 
fears you shall have the St. George’s mushrooms which are 
true agarics, and the little Fairy Ring Champignons, and I’ll 
eat the Morels, if Sanders, who will condemn them as toad- 
stools, can be induced to cook them.” 

As she spoke, the same cough which had interrupted the 
Browning reading on the previous evening was again heard, 
and looking up from the basket of mushrooms over which 


142 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


they were bending, Virginia and Jack saw the artist stroll- 
ing past them for a morning pipe. He involuntarily raised 
his hat as they looked up, but Virginia quickly courtesied 
like a schoolgirl, and Jack pulled his forelock, and they 
had the satisfaction of hearing the retreating artist laugh as 
he disappeared beneath the trees. 

“Impertinent creature, what is he laughing at ?” said 
Virginia. 

“ At us, he must have heard you talking so learnedly 
about ajgarics and fungi, and so of course twigs we are no 
true gypsies.” 

“ If we choose to preserve our incognito he ought to 
have the good taste to respect it. If he knew anything of 
the ways of society he would, but he is evidently nobody of 
any consequence,” said Vi haughtily, as they reached the 
van. 

“ Here, Sanders, cook these mushrooms for breakfast, 
please ; cook all I have gathered, they are all good and I 
am ravenous,” said Miss Willoughby throwing off her sun- 
bonnet and sinking wearily on to the steps of the van. 

“ Umph ! I have heard it said, ‘ Fools make feasts and 
wise men eat them,’ seems to me the fools are going to do 
both with this rubbish,” said Sanders, taking up the basket 
as she came to the door of the van and eying its contents 
scornfully as she turned them over. 

“ Never mind, if the only wise woman in the world will 
cook them I shall be thankful. What a glorious morning, 
Jack, and what a change since Saturday,” said Virginia. 

“ Change, indeed ! There’d need be a change. God 
Almighty had forgot hisself on Saturday, I think, sending 
such stuff as that to call weather,” said Sanders. 

“ My dear Sanders, you are a trifle severe this morning, 
hypercritical if you’ll allow me to make the remark,” said 
Jack. 

“ There’s no hypocrisy about me, Mr. Jack.” 

“ You mistake, Sanders, I did not suggest there was.” 

“ My religion teaches me I have the right to say what I 
think and to think what I please,” said Sanders, angrily 
preparing to cook the mushrooms, after giving this trite 
definition of Protestantism. 

“ Jolly nice creed^ what do you call it ? ” asked Jack, 


W VAN. 




“ Irreverence, I should think,” said Virginia. 

“ We shan’t be dull if Sander’s wakes us up in this style 
every morning. Where’s Miss Kitty ?” said Jack, who was 
arranging a more comfortable seat for Vi. 

“ In bed, she has been crying half the night, poor child. 
I’ll bring your breakfast out there, Miss Vi, she’ll have hers 
in bed,” said Sanders, whose big figure quite fitted the door 
of the van. 

“ I am awfully sorry,” said Jack. 

“ That accounts for Sanders’ bad temper. She is always 
as cross as the tongs if Kitty is not well.” 

“ Is she very ill, do you think ? ” 

‘‘ I don’t think she is really ill. The truth is she was 
engaged to my brother, but my father won’t hear of the 
engagement, and has forbidden them to see each other, or 
to correspond till she is of age.” 

“ Miss Arundel engaged to Willoughby ! ” exclaimed 
Jack in amazement. 

“ He was ; do you know Alec then ? ” 

“ Rather ! Why he used to come to our house every day 
when you were in London,” said Jack with boyish frank- 
ness. 

“ Indeed ! ” said Virginia very gravely. 

“Perhaps I ought not to have told you,” said Jack. 

“ Oh, yes, you ought, but don’t mention it before Kitty, 
please, it would only upset her ; as it is she frets terribly 
about Alec,” said Virginia, as Sanders appeared with the 
breakfast, and Jack resolved to write to Lottie that very 
day and tell her the game Mr. Alec was playing and ask 
her if he ought to tell Miss Willoughby about Lily. 

Excellent as the mushrooms were, the breakfast was 
rather a silent meal, but by the time it was over Jack had 
recovered his normal spirits. 

“ I wonder if we shall see any more of that artist 
to-day.” 

“ I hope not,” said Vi, not quite truly. 

“ What shall I call you before him ? ” said Jack, who had 
been much exercised on this point. 

“You call Kitty by her Christian name, why not call me 
by mine ? ” 

“ I daren’t ; it is too familiar, somehow. May I call you 


144 LOTTIE'S WOOIMO. 

Queen ; I’ll tell the artist, if we see him again, you are the 
queen of our tribe.” 

“ Yes, if you like. We must move on to-day ; we will 
have tea early and start at five, then it will be cool for 
traveling. Perhaps we can persuade the lodge-keeper to 
let us drive through the Park, it is much prettier and 
nicer than the high road. And now I am going to make a 
basket. Shall I give you a lesson in the art or do you want 
to study ? ” 

Jack scorned the idea of study,and half an hour later when 
Sanders started off to Cirencester to do the marketing she 
left Virginia and Jack very busy making the bottom of a 
basket, while Kitty lay on some rugs and an air cushion 
under a tree just above the others, watching the perform- 
ance. 

“ I believe that the artist is sketching us, he is painting 
at the window and he keeps looking across at us,” said 
Kitty presently. 

Kitty looked very pale that morning and there were red 
rings round her brown eyes. 

“ Let him paint us if he likes, I dare say it is a pictur- 
esque subject,” said Jack. 

It certainly was a picturesque group. On one side stood 
the brightly colored van, on the other on a green slope 
under a beautiful copper beech lay Kitty, her auburn hair 
looking like burnished gold on the pale blue shawl against 
which her head was pillowed. In the background was a 
maze of fresh greenery of trees and parkland, while in the 
foreground sat Virginia on a campstool, her sun-bonnet at 
her feet, her queenly head uncovered, on her lap was the 
basket she was weaving, at her feet sat Jack, knife in hand, 
snipping off the osiers and handing them to her as she 
wanted them. A pail of water with a bundle of rods or 
osiers in it was on one side of him, and on the other their 
traveling bath filled with some split rods for weaving, which 
Virginia called skeins. 

From time to time she plunged the basket she was weav- 
ing into the bath to prevent the osiers from splitting, or 
kinking, which as she explained to Jack was the right 
expression. 

“ There,” said Vi, with a satisfied air as she finished 


In the van. 


U5 


putting the uprights into her basket, “ the upset is done, now 
it is all plain sailing. I shall only want the skeins now, Jack, 
I am going to begin the interesting part, the weaving, 
directly.” 

“ Here comes the artist,” said Kitty. 

Virginia’s color deepened, she picked up her sun-bonnet 
and covered her coronet of dark plaits with it, and began 
to put in the skeins, forgetting all about the cord of rods 
called a wail which ought to have been woven round her 
basket first. 

The smell of tobacco heralded the artist’s approach. As 
he came up ^to the group he threw away his cigar, which 
was recently lighted, and raising his hat, said: 

“ Good-morning, ladies.” 

“ Buy a basket, sir, here’s a pretty one which will just 
carry your painting things,” said Virginia reaching a basket, 
very like that Irish peasants hang on their backs to carry 
fish in, to him. 

“ This is a French basket, you did not make this,” said 
artist examining the basket, which was in truth a French 
/loUe such as you often see in Switzerland. 

“ I did,” said Virginia. 

“ Then I will buy it,” and he handed Virginia a sov- 
ereign. 

“Take the money. Jack, and give the gentleman his 
change, eighteen shillings,” said Virginia. 

“ Never mind the change,” said the artist. 

“ We are gypsies, not beggars,” said Virginia proudly, as 
Jack counted out the change, tossing the sovereign in the 
air first. 

“I beg your pardon, no offense, I hope. Will you tell 
my fortune, fair gypsy ? ” 

“ My sister will ; give Kitty the cards. Jack,” said Virginia 
calmly, going on with her basket. 

Kitty, who could with difficulty keep her countenance, 
raised herself into a sitting position, and signed to the 
artist to come closer to her. 

This was not precisely what that gentleman wished to do, 
but he was obliged to obey, and consoled himself by sitting 
down in a position which gave him a full view of Vi’s 
beautiful face as she bent her head over her work, while 


146 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


Kitty cut and dealt the cards and began to tell his for- 
tune. 

“ Don’t you understand palmistry ? I thought gypsies 
were adepts in the art,” said the artist. 

“ Formerly we were,” said Virginia, seeing Kitty was at 
a loss for an answer. 

“ Oh, I see ! You move with the times and read Brown- 
ing and Dante, learn botany and fungology, and travel with 
air-cushions and traveling baths.” 

“ You can’t make baskets without water, sir, and that 
bath holds my skeins beautifully,” said Virginia with a 
gracious smile. 

“ I wish I were the bath,” said the artist, who was more 
interested in Virginia than in his fortune which Kitty was 
telling. 

“ Have you ever been to this part of the world before, 
may I ask ? ” he said. 

Never,” said Virginia laconically. 

“ Are you making a long stay here ? ” 

“ Till this evening.” 

‘‘ Only till then. Where do you go next, if I may venture 
to inquire ? ” 

“ To a place called Minchinhampton,” said Virginia, 
answering all the artist’s questions, much to the amusement 
of Kitty and Jack. 

“ Indeed ! It is a curious thing, but I am going there 
to-morrow, too ; perhaps we may meet, it is not a very large 
place, I believe.” 

“ The common is one of the largest in England,” said 
Jack aloud, and he added in French to Vi : “I don’t be- 
lieve he ever heard of the place till you mentioned it.” 

The conversation was now interrupted by Kitty continu- 
ing to tell the artist’s fortune, while Jack and Virginia 
talked in undertones in French, until it was finished. 

“Thanks. Now if you’ll allow me to bring my camera 
out, and photograph you all just as you are now, I shall be 
eternally grateful ; may I ? ” said the artist. “ It would 
make such a charming picture,” he added. 

“You must ask our queen,” said Kitty pointing to Vi. 

“ What does her majesty say ? Will she vouchsafe to 
grant my request if I make it on bended knee as becom^_s 


IN THE Van. 147 

a courtier ? ” said the artist, taking off his hat and kneeling 
on one knee before Virginia. 

“I suppose I must,” said Vi, looking up at the handsome 
face now so close to hers. 

“A thousand thanks. Please don’t move till I return. 
A bientdt," said the owner of the face with a knowing look 
in his blue eyes. 

“The wretch! He understands French, how mean of 
him ! he knows all you and I have been saying. Jack,” 
exclaimed Vi as soon as he was out of hearing. 

“ I only said he was very good looking, and we agreed 
he was a gentleman, though rather impertinent,” said 
Jack. 

“ Yes, but we also said he evidently didn’t believe we 
were gypsies, but that we must either keep up the farce or 
drop his acquaintance. Oh ! I wish we hadn’t been so 
foolish. I wish we could decamp before he comes back,” 
said Virginia. 

“ That is impossible, for here he comes. I only hope 
Sanders won’t betray us if she comes home while he is 
here,” said Kitty. 

The adjusting of the camera took a long time, the photog- 
rapher being in no particular hurry, and Sanders returned 
from market before the first photograph had been taken. 

“ Well, I never ; that’s what you young folks are up to 
while I am away, is it ? ” said Sanders in an uneducated 
voice that was evidently natural, as she put down her 
baskets and wiped her face, which was hot, with her apron. 

“ Yes, mother; the gentleman’s taking our picture,” said 
Jack. 

“ The sun is, you mean, so it's sure to be like you. 
Well, sir, you may as well put me in as well,” said Sanders, 
seating herself on the doorstep of the van and pulling off 
the handkerchief she wore on her head to show her coils of 
sandy hair, of which she was inclined to be vain. 

“ How are you now, Kitty, my lamb ? ” she asked, taking 
her cue from Jack. 

“ Better, thank you, mother. I have been telling the 
gentleman’s fortune, and Vi has sold him a basket and 
nearly made another.” 

“ That's right ; that’ll help to pay for our dinner,” said 


LOTTIE'S ‘W00IN6. 


t4§ 

Sanders, who puzzled the artist ; she was evidently a com- 
mon person, and yet Jack and Kitty called her mother. 

He had noticed Kitty’s delicate white hands, with two or 
three handsome rings on them, while she was telling his 
fortune ; besides, he was certain from her voice that she 
was a lady, and equally sure Jack, in spite of his assumed 
dialect, was a gentleman. As for Virginia, he had no 
shadow of doubt about her ; if she were not a real queen, 
she was certainly a. lady in disguise, and he wished he 
could spend the rest of the day in photographing her. 

He took a great many views of them, and then Sanders 
told Jack to light the fire and put on the pot if he wished 
for any dinner, which, she added, was the only thing he was 
ever ready for, and the artist felt constrained to take his 
leave. 

They saw no more of him ; he went out sketching when 
they were at dinner, and had not returned when they 
started on their ten mile journey. 

They obtained leave to go through the Park, and they 
set off in high spirits, Kitty having roused herself out of 
her melancholy mood ; the three young people sat on the 
box, and Sanders tramped behind ; they only went at a 
walking pace, or a jog trot occasionally, and it was past 
six when they left the Park and found themselves on the 
high road, a straight, white road, with low stone walls, 
made of the stone of the country piled loosely together 
without any mortar on either side. 

“ This is the beginning of the plain of which this won- 
derful common forms part,” said Virginia, who was con- 
sulting the ordnance map. 

“ It is very flat and ugly ; I thought it was hilly country,” 
said Kitty. 

“ We have hardly come to the Cotswolds yet ; we are up 
very high ; the valleys are below us. I don’t think it ugly, 
Kitty ; look what miles and miles you can see ; that blue 
distance melting into the sky is lovely,” said Vi. 

“ How many miles have we before we come to the com- 
mon ? ” said Jack. 

“ Five or six, as well as I can make out.” 

“ Suppose we stop short of this Minchinhampton to-night 
then ; our steed is not very ‘ sprack,’ as they say here.” 


W tHE VAN, 




“ The Golden valley is on our right, and there seems to 
be a hamlet a few miles further on from which we might 
get a view of it ; when we get to the turning we will go 
and explore,” said Virginia. 

They jogged on for another hour, when they came to 
some cottages roofed with soft gray stone tiles, as most of 
the old houses are roofed in that part of the world ; there 
was a turning to the right up which they went, and a little 
further on came to a grassy spot in front of a barn, where 
they decided to encamp, so they took out the horse and had 
supper, after which Jack and Virginia went for a walk. 

The scenery is very unequal in this part of Gloucester- 
shire ; five minutes’ walk brought them from a flat, unin- 
teresting plain to a lovely piece of country. They went 
down a steep piece of hill, till in a few minutes they found 
themselves on a common, and the Golden valley beneath 
them, with its mills dotted about on the banks of the canal 
and river which run side by side through it. 

Though the opposite side of the hill was thickly strewn 
with cottages, it had been impossible to spoil the beauty of 
the green gulchlike breaks in the hills which intersected 
the valley, and the larch-clad slopes in all directions. 

“ It is lovely country ; it is like a miniature Switzerland. 
It must be beautiful in winter, when the hills are covered 
with snow. I wish we' could get the van down here for the 
night, it would do Kitty good to see this view.” 

“ We can, it is only a question of hiring another horse to 
pull it up the hill to-morrow. I’ll go and fetch the van. I 
dare say I could get a bed in one of these cottages,” said 
Jack, ever ready to please Virginia. 

While he was gone, she sat down on some logs and began 
to make a sketch of a magnificent old lime tree with a 
rustic seat round it, which stood about halfway up the 
wild rugged common. 

She had just sketched in the outline of the tree and 
washed in her sky when the scent of good tobacco made 
her look up, and she saw the artist in his velvet coat 
standing close by looking intensely amused at her occupa- 
tion. 

“ Good-evening. What a strange occupation for a gypsy. 
I didn’t know that even their queens were artists. It is a 


LOTTIE^ S 


150 

fin-de-sihle development, I suppose,” he said as he emptied 
his pipe and proceeded to put it away. 

“ I am not an artist,” said Virginia haughtily, and the 
artist thought he detected a slight scorn in her voice, which 
made his blood tingle. 

“ Did she despise artists ? ” he wondered. 

“ There are artists and artists. May I ask what fair lady 
you may be, traveling incognita ? ” he asked. 

“ Sir,” said Virginia, rising to her feet and dropping half 
her materials as she did so ; ‘‘ if your suspicions be correct 
your conduct is insolent in the extreme ; if incorrect your 
doubts are unpardonable.” 

“ Either way I am smitten,” said the artist coolly. 

“ Don’t dare to address me again under any circum- 
stances,” exclaimed Virginia, losing her temper. 

He had been picking up her pencils and brushes as she 
spoke, and he now handed them to her, with an air of 
assumed humility which so annoyed Miss Willoughby, that 
much as she would have liked her brushes she would not 
condescend to touch them, but moved off, sweeping past 
him up the hill with her head in the air, looking such a 
picture of outraged majesty that he stood looking after her 
lost in admiration. 

By the time she reached the van her anger had cooled, 
and for some occult reason unknown to her biographer she 
did not tell the others either of her meeting or her quarrel 
with the artist. Perhaps she was ashamed of her little fit 
of temper now she was calmer, perhaps she was afraid Jack 
might take it into his head to avenge her outraged majesty 
if she told him ; perhaps she was not really so angry as she 
pretended to be ; perhaps she intended to relent and allow 
the artist to renew the acquaintance if he were penitent. 

The ways of women, like those of Providence, are inscrut- 
able and past finding out ; she was silent and she alone 
knew the reason why. 


SINGED WINGS, 


151 


CHAPTER XVI. 

SINGED WINGS. 

“ What is truth ? ” said Pilate. 

The question was not answered at the time and has 
remained unanswered ever since, so perhaps Mrs. Wil- 
loughby was justified in thinking it to be a virtue whose 
standard was subject to variations and affected by circum- 
stances. 

Her standard was considerably affected by the arrival of 
her son Alec ; it was not a high one at any time, but it fell 
perceptibly after his return. 

She was very much averse to his spending his leave at 
home, but the general wished to have him. She was very 
angry with him and unable to show her anger, she was also 
very much afraid he should hear of his father’s quarrel 
with Virginia, knowing that if he did, he would not hesitate 
to confess he was the real culprit, and his mother trembled 
to think what would be the result of such a confession. 

To avert all likelihood of the general’s row with his 
daughter from transpiring, she told Alec on no account to 
mention Kitty, or Virginia, who was with her, before his 
father. On his inquiring where they were and what they 
were doing, she replied they were on a driving-tour with 
Sanders in the west of England. 

“ What are they driving?” he asked, the day he arrived. 

“ They hired a four-wheel trap and a horse’. I would not 
hear of their going in a dog-cart ; ” and more than this he 
did not know. 

He was in excellent spirits until he returned from the 
duke’s garden party, when he was so depressed by Lily’s 
conduct to him, that Mrs. Willoughby, who attributed it to 
Kitty’s absence, kept her husband awake half the night 
reproaching him for his cruelty in forbidding the engagement. 

While she was delivering a whole course of curtain 
lectures in swift succession, her son was sitting up writing 
to Lily, imploring her to see him and hear his defense, vow- 
ing he never had loved and never could, would, or should 
love anyone but her. 


152 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


This letter he took with him the next clay to The Cottage, 
intending to leave it if he were denied admittance. 

“ Not at home,” said James, extending a waiter for cards 
before Alec had time to ask the question, and looking so 
conscious that Alec suspected they were all in the drawing 
room, as was really the case. 

He left cards and his letter, and the next morning had 
the mortification of receiving it unopened accompanied by 
a few lines from Lottie, saying all communication between 
him and her sister must cease. He helped himself to some 
breakfast in a fury and then opened a second letter which 
changed his plans. 

It ran as follows : 


“The Ferns, Amberley. 

“ Dear Willoughby : 

“ Lascelles tells me you are taking long leave, you lucky 
fellow ! why, you have only just joined, and here am I a 
poor devil of an artist slaving day after day all the year 
round. 

“Just now life has its compensations, to wit: fine 
weather, comfortable diggings, lovely country, decent 
cooking and the primest game I ever played at. Oh ! 
Woman ! lovely Woman ! for of course there’s a woman in 
the game. 

“ Did I say woman ? Did I forget ‘ how divine a thing a 
woman may be made ’ ; as Wordsworth .says ? I beg her 
pardon. I meant a queen, an angel, a goddess, a thing 
enshrined, ensainted, a being disguised in the form of a 
woman and that woman — Soul of my father — a gypsy. 
Imagine yours truly engaged to a gypsy ! ‘ What mighty 

ills have not been done by woman ?’ 

“By Jupiter ! don’t I wish I were engaged to her, but 
my gypsy — I wish to Heaven she were mine — is as proud as 
Lucifer. The truth is, Willoughby, my boy, I am deuced 
hard hit by this gypsy, who is no gypsy, after all. 

Who she is, I don’t know, but that she is a lady born 
and bred, though at the present moment living in a cara- 
van, I am prepared to swear. There are three other would- 
be gypsies : one I take to be an old servant, the other two 
1 believe are brother and sister and possibly related to my 


SINGED WINGS. 153 

gypsy, though not the least like her. The little girl is not 
bad, glorious hair, the shade we artists go wild about. 

“ Can’t you come down for a week and amuse yourself 
and her while I make way with the other ? Do run down 
and stay with me, I promise you some good sport, though 
I am really working, so there’s no fear of my dragging you 
for long walks, which I know you hate, you lazy dog. 

“ Stroud is the nearest approach to civilization in this 
Arcadia ; telegraph what train you come by and I’ll meet 
you. 

‘‘By the way, I am only a poor artist down here, address 
me as Mr. Claude. I have dropped my surname pro tem. 

“ O Willoughby, the pose of my gypsy’s head ! The 
curves of her figure, her airs and graces, her divine smile, 
her eyes — but come and judge for yourself, dear old boy. 

“ Yours affectionately, 

“Claude Lawrence.” 

“ I shall go,” thought Alec as he read the letter. “ It is 
no use hanging about here, Lily is so unreasonable that she 
won’t hear what I have to say, so I may as well go and 
enjoy myself. Old Lawrence seems to be having a good 
time. I’ll run down there and take the little gypsy off his 
hands. If I break her heart it will be Lily’s fault, not 
mine.” 

“ I am going to spend a week with my friend Lawrence, 
mother,” he said aloud. “ He is painting somewhere down 
in Gloucestershire, and he has asked me to join him. It is 
deadly dull without the girls, so I am off to-morrow.” 

“ What is the name of the place you are going to ?” asked 
Mrs. Willoughby, who knew Virginia and Kitty were in 
Gloucestershire. 

“ Amberly.” 

Mrs. Willoughby breathed freer. Cirencester was the 
last place Virginia had written from, and she had given 
Stroud as the next address, so Mrs. Willoughby, who knew 
Gloucestershire was a large county, and knew no more 
about it, thought there was not much risk of Alec’s coming 
across the caravan. 

Alec spent that day in riding to Chesterfield and back. 
On his return he wrote to Lottie, saying that he had been 


154 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


treated worse than the meanest criminal, on whom judg- 
ment was never passed till his defense had been heard ; 
that he could not endure Workwell since he was not allowed 
to speak, or even write, to the only woman he could ever 
love, so he was going away, and he should never, he hoped, 
enter the place again, his life was spoiled, etc., etc., etc. 

He posted this letter on the way to the station and Lottie 
got it by the second post that day. When it reached her 
she was sitting in the morning room, with some account 
books open before her, her brows knit in a vain endeavor 
to cut down their expenses so as to enable them to live 
within their very narrow means. 

It is impossible, it is the taxes and the move that have 
got us into difficulties. We have only James and an occa- 
sional charwoman now, we can't live on less than we have 
to eat, we should only have a chemist’s bill instead of a 
grocer’s, if we did, and I sure we don’t put our money on 
our backs,” she said at last. 

“Are we in debt then, Lottie?” said her mother. 

“ Yes, dear, a little, it is not much, but I have such a 
horror of debt. I don’t see anything for it, but to let this 
house and go into lodgings when Jack has passed into 
Sandhurst.” 

“ I should hate that, so would your poor father if he knew 
it,” said Mrs. Vaughan fretfully. 

“Well, there is only one other solution, I must marry Mr. 
Barrett. By the way. Jack goes up to London to-day for 
his exam, I wonder how Miss Willoughby will get on with- 
out him. Thank you, James.” This last remark was to 
James, who just then brought in Alec Willoughby’s letter. 
Lottie read it, and then decided to go up to Greenhouse 
at once and see Alec and say nothing to Lily about it till 
she came back. 

Perhaps they had been rather hard on Alec ; Lottie be- 
lieved he really cared for Lily and she was by no means dis- 
posed to let such a good match slip through their fingers, 
particularly as Lily’s affections were set on Alec, in spite 
of his falseness, so she put on her hat and started off to 
Greenhouse. 

The bills had worried her ; perhaps the air would do her 
good, and perhaps some new idea for her next move toward 


SINGED WINGS. 


155 


Mr. Barrett would occur to her on the way. She had not 
seen him since the garden party, and the fact that he had not 
yet called to inquire for them after it, confirmed her fears 
that her efforts there had failed. 

She found only Mrs. Willoughby at home, Alec having 
left that morning, and the general being out for the day ; 
she tried to find out where Alec was gone, but did not 
succeed, and, feeling disappointed and annoyed at missing 
him, she started to walk home as soon as she civilly could 
after tea. 

She thought she might as well walk round by Mr. Barrett’s 
new house and see how that was progressing : it was a longer 
way round, but there was a chance of meeting the owner, 
and she had no scruples about letting him know how 
interested she was in it. 

The house was now built ; the roof was finished ; the 
windows glazed, the floors laid, and the doors and fireplaces 
put up ; the masons and carpenters had done their work, 
but the decorators had still to come in as soon as the plas- 
terers, who were now at work, had finished the ceilings. 

It was past six o’clock when Lottie arrived, and the work- 
men had all left and locked the house up for the night. 
She walked round it trying every door and window, but 
they were all fastened, so she contented herself with looking 
through the windows of every room on the ground floor to 
see how the men had progressed since her last visit. 

“ I should love to choose the papers ; I would have a dado 
in this room and a frieze in that ; I think I’ll ask him the 
next time I see him if he wants my advice on the matter,” 
thought Lottie, as she stopped at the window of a room she 
knew was to be Mr. Barrett’s own sitting room. 

To her horror it seemed full of smoke, and on peering 
into the room through the window, she saw a heap of straw 
and loose shavings in the opposite end of the room close to 
the door, which was half open. 

. “ These careless workmen have been smoking and dropped 
a match on to these shavings; the smoke comes from them, 
I am sure,” thought Lottie. 

At that moment a long tongue of flame leapt up, and in 
an instant the heap was on fire. Lottie had no time then 
to think there had been any foul play, or that the shavings 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


156 

had been purposely collected to set fire to the house ; her 
one thought and desire was to put out the fire. It did not 
occur to her to run down to Workwell and give the alarm, 
knowing that the fire would spread before she could get help, 
for the nearest cottage was half a mile a way. 

She did not hesitate to consider what to do, she ran to 
the next room to try once more if she could open the win- 
dow ; to open the window of the room the fire was in would, 
she knew, fan the flame, the next window was fastened, but 
she smashed a pane of glass, put her hand through the hole, 
unbarred the window, opened it, and jumped through it 
into the room. 

Then she ran to the back kitchen, where she had before 
noticed some pails were standing, found one was empty, and 
the other was full of plaster ; she emptied the plaster on to 
the floor and going to the pump pumped for her life till 
both pails were filled. 

She could only carry one at a time, but she took the larger 
and with difficulty, staggering under its weight, carried it to 
the door of the room from which the smoke was now pour- 
ing in volumes. The door was half open and the heap of 
shavings from which the fire proceeded was behind it. Great 
tongues of flame were now licking over the top of the door. 
She poured the water into the room, but she dared not enter 
it, for there was not room between the blazing door and the 
jamb for her in her thin cambric dress to pass with safety. 

The water hissed and bubbled as it met the flames, but 
Lottie knew it had not reached the heap of shavings which 
was the heart of the fire. 

She ran back for the second pail and determined to throw 
this under the door, in the hope that the weight of the water 
would force back the door and reach the shavings or enable 
her to get into the room with the third pail. 

The door was forced back as she threw the second pail 
of water, but at the same moment a tongue of flame caught 
the skirt of her dress, and in an instant the thin material 
caught fire. Lottie gave two or three piercing shrieks as 
she dropped the pail, and then with great presence of mind 
threw herself on the floor of the hall and rolled over and 
over. 

Almost at the same moment, though it seemed an age to 


SINGED WINGS. 


157 


her, she heard footsteps coming hastily across the hall, and 
felt someone wrap something thick and soft and warm 
round her. 

The someone was George Barrett, he had been calling at 
The Cottage and taking tea with Mrs. Vaughan and Lily, 
after which he thought he would walk up to the house and 
see if it were all right. He did this occasionally, but he 
could not have told what induced him to do so that partic- 
ular evening, except that he wanted to kill an hour before 
dinner. 

The first thing that attracted his attention on reaching 
the house was the open window, the next the smell of fire, 
and as he quickly leapt into the house to see where the 
smell proceeded from, Lottie’s shrieks fell on his ear. He 
dashed into the hall and there saw her rolling on the stone 
floor, the skirt of her dress on fire, while from the half open 
door of his room smoke and flames were issuing. 

He pulled off his coat and in a second extinguished the 
flame, which Lottie’s presence of mind had prevented from 
enveloping her ; and satisfied that she was safe, he lifted 
her up in his strong arms and carried her to the stairs, 
Lottie sobbing hysterically the while. 

“ You are all right, it is out ; are you burnt ?” he asked, 
as he seated her on the bottom stair. 

“ No ; the fire, the fire, put it out ; it is behind the 
door,” said Lottie, who was too much terrified to feel any 
pain. 

Mr. Barrett picked up the pail and ran to the back 
kitchen, where Lottie heard him pumping, and the next 
minute he reappeared with both pails filled with water, and 
in five minutes, during which neither of them spoke a word 
and he worked like a fiend, the fire was extinguished. 

Lottie sat mechanically looking on, shivering from fright 
and sobbing involuntarily, as he flung the water into the 
very heart of the fire, so that half a dozen pails put an end 
to it. 

How strong he was and how easily he seemed to master 
the terrible enemy which had so nearly destroyed her, and 
which had left the marks of its grip on her wrists, both of 
which were slightly burnt. Her outer skirt of blue cambric 
was quite spoilt. It hung in torn scorched rags round her 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


I5« 

waist ; her underskirt was burnt in large round patches in 
one or two places ; her sleeves were slightly burnt ; her 
gloves were split all up the back ; her pretty golden-brown 
hair was slightly singed ; her hat had fallen off and was 
crushed out of all shape, and her face was blackened by 
the smoke. 

She looked a very disheveled object as she sat leaning 
against the wall, too much overcome by the shock and 
excitement to move ; and Mr. Barrett was almost as untidy 
when, the fire being put out, he turned to speak to her. 

He was in his shirt sleeves, which were black with the 
smoke, his collar was like a limp rag round his neck, the per- 
spiration streamed down his face, making streaks of black 
down it, his fair beard was blackened and slightly singed, and 
his light trousers and waistcoat were splashed and soiled. 

In spite of her fright, from which she had not yet recov- 
ered, Lottie found herself wondering what he would do and 
say to her. 

She had saved his house from being burnt down, at the 
risk of her own life ; how would he reward her ? 

Once more she thought circumstances had favored her ; 
had she used them so as at last to have gained the object 
of her life ? 

Would he ask her to be the mistress of this house which 
but for her might soon have been a charred heap ? 

Her heart beat quickly as he crossed the hall to speak to 
her ; she was so excited she did not feel the pain in her 
scorched wrists, which were smarting. She thought of 
many things in those few minutes which Mr. Barrett might 
say or do ; but she never thought of one thing, the thing 
he really did, which was to suspect she had set the house 
on fire for the sake of putting it out, and so laying some 
claim to his gratitude, and yet that was the first thought 
that occurred to George Barrett. 

A glance had sufficed to convince his sound common 
sense that the fire was no accident, the shavings had evi- 
dently been purposely collected and placed near the door ; 
the incendiary had, he concluded, entered by the open 
window, and as Lottie was the only person in the house, it 
was perhaps natural or at least excusable that his first 
suspicions rested on her. 


SINGED WINGS. 159 

At last he spoke, and his words did not conceal his 
thoughts. 

“ This was no accident, how did it happen ?” 

“ Clothes,” says the great clothes philosopher, “ are 
emblematic, and,” adds that grimmest of all humorists, “ all 
emblems are properly speaking clothes.” 

Words then are the clothes of thought. 

Now there is undoubtedly some subtle connection between 
these two kinds of clothes ; our clothes exercise a certain 
influence over our words, the custom of the mind, as Teufels- 
drockh says, are affected by the costumes of the body ; 
therefore, we have no hesitation in saying George Barrett’s 
deshabille was the cause of the nakedness of the above 
thought, so thinly disguised, that it was patent he thought 
Lottie had set fire to his house. 

It was, as Mrs. Willoughby would have said, a “ fatal 
mistake ” on his part, for it showed a want of breeding 
which he would hardly have exposed had he been standing 
there in full evening dress. 

Lottie looked up at him in amazement. What did he 
mean by speaking to her in this way, for the tone in which 
he spoke was harsh as well as the words, just as she had 
risked her life to save his house ? 

How could she tell how it happened ? Surely he could 
not possibly suspect her of having caused the fire. No 
doubt he was very angry at the narrow escape his house 
had just had, but why vent his anger on her? Clearly he 
suspected her, for he repeated his question. 

How far he was from understanding her feelings in 
regard to him, and her intentions toward the house ! 

“ I don’t know,” she answered ; “ I found the shavings on 
fire, and I broke open a window and jumped into the house 
and tried to extinguish the flames.” 

“ But who set fire to it ? ” persisted Barrett. 

At that moment a shadow came across the window of the 
hall facing the stairs on which Lottie sat, and as both he 
and she looked round, they saw Mr. Savage peering in at 
them, looking at the time as mad as a hatter. 

Lottie, overcome by various emotions, fell back on the 
stairs in a fit of wild hysterical laughter. 

“ What a brute I have been and what an idiot. It was 


i6o LOTTIE'S WOOING. 

Savage, of course. What on earth am I to do with her ? 
Poor little girl. She is burnt, too. I ought to be put under 
the pump for my pains. She was plucky enough when the 
house was on fire and now the danger is over she collapses. 
Like a woman, I suppose ! What the dickens ought I to 
do with her ? ” 

While he was thus thinking, looking helplessly on at her, 
Lottie’s laughter changed to loud sobs, in the midst of 
which Mr. Savage walked into the hall, and she began to 
tremble all over and fell on the floor in a state of semi- 
unconsciousness. 

“ Can I be of any use ? I was passing and hearing 
voices I looked in. Dear me, have you had a fire?” said 
Mr. Savage. 

“Yes, someone set fire to one of the rooms, and Miss 
Vaughan was nearly burnt to death putting it out. I’ll 
have the place watched for the future night and day. 
Would you mind going to the town and sending up a fly 
for Miss Vaughan as quickly as possible ? ” said Mr. Barrett, 
as he tried to move Lottie into a more comfortable posi- 
tion, putting his coat under her head fora pillow. 

“ With pleasure. Marion is just outside. Shall I send 
her in ? ” 

“By all means,” said Mr. Barrett, intensely relieved at 
hearing Miss Savage w^as close by ; she would know 
exactly what to do, and he had not the remotest idea. 

If Lottie had broken a limb or had been in any physical 
pain, he would have known what to do, but fainting 
fits and hysterics were altogether out of his line of ex- 
perience. 

Miss Savage came in a few minutes later, but she looked 
so terrified, that Mr. Barrett told her the fire was due to 
the carelessness of some workmen ; he saw she suspected 
her father had caused it, and he could not bear to see her 
suffering. 

“ I would rather the house was burnt to the ground than 
take him from her again,” he thought. 

Miss Savage looked intensely relieved on hearing some 
workman had caused the fire, and at once busied herself 
about Lottie, loosening her clothes and bathing her face 
with cold water. 


THE STRAIGHTEST PATH. 


t6i 


“ Her wrists are burnt,” said Mr. Barrett as Miss Savage 
pulled off Lottie’s torn gloves and chafed her palms. 

“That is the least part of the mischief. It is the shock 
to her system that matters. Poor girl, what an escape she 
has had. There, my dear, you will be better now. We 
will get you home and to bed as quickly as possible. You 
are quite a heroine, Lottie,” said Miss Savage, stroking 
Lottie’s pretty hair, which was tumbling about her face. 

“ Thank you, Marion. She is coming round. If you 
will take her home. I’ll order the coachman to fetch Dr. 
Cross. I must get my foreman to come and sleep here to- 
night. I daren’t leave the place alone again,” said Barrett, 
who by this time had washed his face, and put on his coat, 
for Lottie was now lying with her head on Miss Savage’s 
knees. 

The fly came shortly after, and Mr. Barrett took Lottie 
up in his strong arms and carried her to it and sent Miss 
Savage home with her. 


CHAPTER XVH. 

THE STRAIGHTEST PATH. 

Of all the paths that lead to a woman’s love 
Pity’s the straightest. 

Beaumont and Fletcher. 

Jack’s first act the morning after Virginia’s quarrel with 
the artist was to walk to Stroud and see if there were any 
letters for them ; he found one for himself directing him to 
present himself for the preliminary examination for Sand- 
hurst on the following Thursday : this was Tuesday, so he 
hurried back to inform Miss Willoughby of the news. 

“ I need not go till the first train on Thursday morning, 
it is only the medical on Thursday, the exam, proper is on 
Friday and Saturday. I can get back by the last train on 
Saturday night, so I shall only be away a few days. I must 
go, you see.” 

“ Of course you must ; we must manage as best we can 


i 62 


LOTTIE^ S WOOING. 


without you ; we will encamp on the common to-day and 
remain there till you come back.” 

“ It is a glorious place. I walked back across it this morn- 
ing ; you can see the Malvern Hills, the Severn, and the 
Welsh hills from it. By the way, I met our friend the artist 
at the postoffice and found out his name.” 

“ Did you, what is it ? ” said Kitty. 

“ Claude. I think he wanted me to see the letter, he put 
it just under my nose ; it was directed to Mr. Claude.” 

“ Nothing else,” said Virginia. 

“ No, plain Mr. Claude, no esquire, but everyone is 
esquire nowadays, so perhaps he thought it more aristo- 
cratic to be Mr"' 

“ It is no consequence how his letter was directed, he is 
no friend of ours,” said Vi haughtily. 

“ We never know our best friends till we have lost them,” 
said Sanders grimly. 

“ I hope we have not lost our best friend, our gallant 
steed ; I must go and look for him and get hold of another 
to pull the van up the hill,” said Jack. 

They had some trouble in getting the van up the hill, and 
then they had two or three miles to go before they found a 
suitable place on the opposite side of the common to 
encamp on, so it was dinner time before they were settled 
in their new quarters. 

The place they chose was a sheltered spot under some 
trees, just outside the grounds of some gentleman’s house ; 
here they were in shade during the hottest part of the day. 
They were outside the golf links, and a quarter of a mile 
from the nearest cottage. Amberley was a straggling village 
on their left, on one side of the Woodchester valley, which 
runs at right angles with the Golden valley, which, with 
Stroud, was just across the common, opposite to their camp. 

The common rolled out in front of them like a green sea, 
rising and falling in dunes and hollows ; here and there 
stood a solitary house, but for the most part only houses 
and cattle broke the monotony of the plain ; beyond it 
were several ranges of hills. 

The air was beautiful, and to Vi’s delight she found some 
blue gentians and several orchids as they roamed about in 
the afternoon. 


THE STEAIGHTEST PATH. 


163 


They decided it would be no joke to be lost on this 
great common in a snowstorm, or a fog, or a dark night, 
for the hollows were sharp and sudden in some places, and 
there were several old quarries, in one of which Jack found 
some viper’s bugloss, that handsomest of wild flowers, with 
its blue petals and pink stamens. 

They saw nothing of the artist that day, and in spite of 
the delights of the common one member of the party found 
the day rather long in consequence. The evening was 
foggy, but Sanders, nevertheless, insisted on walking to 
Minchinhampton to get something for breakfast, in spite of 
Virginia’s warning that the fog might get worse. 

When she was gone, it was so damp and chilly that the 
young people were quite glad to go inside the van and 
light the lamp, while Virginia and Jack read “A Midsum- 
mer Night’s Dream ” aloud, and Kitty worked and dreamt 
of Alec. 

The reading went on undisturbed till Jack came to the 
fairy’s song in Act II.: 

“You spotted snakes with double tongue, 

Thorny hedgehogs, be not seen ; 

Newts and blind worms, do no wrong ; 

Come not near qmx gypsy queen.” 

** Fairy queen,” corrected Virginia. 

“ Oh, do stop ; I saw a hedge-hog outside this afternoon ; 
I dare say there are spotted snakes on this common, too ; I 
feel nervous,” said Kitty. 

Of newts and blindworms ? They won’t hurt you, nor 
snakes either.” 

“ I don’t know a snake from a viper ; I should die of 
fright if I saw either. Do look out. Jack, and see if San- 
ders is coming ; it is just nine, and she promised to be 
back by nine.” 

Great Scott ! it is a dense fog ; she’ll never find her 
way in this; hadn’t I better go and look for her?” said 
Jack, looking out into a dense white mist. 

“ No ; Sanders will be all right ; she’ll get some boy to 
walk back with her probably, but I think you had better 
go to your lodging before it gets dark ; it will be worse 
then. Why, you can’t see the road from here. O Jack, 


164 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


you must go at once or you’ll be lost on this common,” 
said Virginia, going to the door of the van. 

“ Oh, never mind me ; I shall be all right. I know the 
direction when I get to the road ; I have only to follow it 
till 1 come to the cottage,” said Jack. 

“ I would rather you went before it is dark,” said Vir- 
ginia ; so bidding them good-night Jack set off through the 
damp fog. 

He stopped to light his pipe before he got to the road, 
and then when he struck the road walked on for about ten 
minutes, by which time he ought to have reached the little 
path, which led to the cottage at which he had hired a 
bed. 

He could not see a sign of any building, nothing but the 
white road, and the grass on each side, and the white fog 
in which everything was enveloped. 

“ Very odd. I know I have not passed that turn ; why, 
I am going down hill. By jingo ! I am on the wrong road. 
The fog looks lighter down hill ; I dare say it is quite clear 
in the valley. Well, I must turn back, I lost my bearings 
when I stopped to light my pipe, and struck the wrong 
path. This is the Amberley road ; I guess I must go back 
to where it joins my road,” thought Jack as he turned 
back. 

He walked on and on, but he came to no other road, and 
he saw and heard nothing except the occasional braying of 
a donkey, or the lowing of cattle on the common. Then 
he stopped, and looking at his watch, found it was half an 
hour since he left the van ; it was getting dark now, the 
white mist had become gray, and he could barely distinguish 
the road from the grass. 

“ Umph ! this is pleasant. Where the dickens am I ? I 
might walk the whole way to Cirencester, if I am on the 
center road. I don’t half like it. Hallo ! there’s our 
lamp. I’ll go back to the van and start afresh,” he 
exclaimed, as a faint light glimmered through the fog. 

He struck across the grass in the direction of the light, 
which he calculated was about fifty yards from him ; the 
light however came no nearer, it bobbed up and down and 
seemed to recede as he advanced. 

“ It can’t be the van, it must be someone with a lantern,” 


THE STRAIGHTEST PATH. 165 

thought Jack, and at that moment he tripped, and found 
himself sprawling over a sleeping bullock, for it was now so 
dark he could not see a yard before him. 

When he had picked himself up and recovered his hat, 
the light was gone ; there was not a trace of it. 

“ Where in the world am I now ? I wish I had not left 
the road to wander about after that will-o’-the-wisp. I 
don’t suppose it was a true jack-o’-lantern, it is too damp a 
night ; what it was I don’t know, but anyhow, it has lured 
me astray. If I don’t look out I shall fall down a quarry and 
break my neck, just as the road to glory is opening before 
me. What shall 1 do ?” thought Jack. 

He knew it was no use to wander on and on, across the 
grass, because he could not help going in a circle. He 
dare not lie down and go to sleep on the damp grass, for 
the fog was so penetrating that his clothes were now quite 
wet, and he did not want to court an attack of rheumatic 
fever. 

What was he to do ? 

As he stood considering his next move, the sound of the 
firing of a pistol reached his ears. 

“ Hallo ! This is cheerful, upon my word ! If I stand 
still, I seem to act as a target for some unknown marks- 
man. I’ll go on ; I have no enemies. I’ll whistle as I go, 
and perhaps this good gentleman will fire in the opposite 
direction,” thought Jack, as he began to whistle a popular 
air, and started off to make another effort to reach the 
road, or the van, or a cottage. 

A minute later he thought he heard a shout ; he stopped 
immediately and called out, “ Hallo ! ” 

“ Here ! ” answered a voice. 

“ Where ?” answered Jack, who could see no one, but 
now moved in the direction of the voice. 

“ Here,” replied the voice, which sounded nearer this 
time. 

“ Don’t move. I’ll come,” said Jack. 

“ I can’t move,” answered the voice, and Jack thought he 
heard a moan. 

Now he discerned a red spark through the fog, and the 
next moment he found himself on the road by the side of 
the artist, who was sitting on a milestone nursing his legs. 


i66 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


“ Hallo ! it is you, is it ? I have lost my way. I have 
been wandering about this jolly old common for the last 
two hours, trying to find the road to somewhere,” exclaimed 
Jack in his natural voice, forgetting in his excitement to act 
the part of the gypsy. 

“You are about halfway between Amberley and your 
van ; if you don’t mind giving me an arm. I’ll pilot you to 
my lodgings and put you up for the night. I have hurt 
my leg ; I can’t put one foot to the ground,” said the 
artist. 

“ I am awfully sorry ; sprained your ankle ?” 

“ Something of the kind,” said Mr. Claude evasively. 

“ I’ll give you an arm with pleasure ; how far have we to 
go ? ” asked Jack. 

“ About a quarter of a mile, downhill, and rather steep. 
I don’t know how I shall manage even with your arm,” 
said Mr. Claude, hopping along. 

“ I am so sorry. Don’t hurry. Take your time.” 

“ I can’t hurry, my dear fellow. I am in such pain.” 

“ Would you like to take your boot off ? ” 

“ Not till we get home, thanks.” 

“ Lean on me ; I am strong. I can bear you though 
I am not so tall as you are,” said Jack, again forgetting 
to act the part of gypsy. 

“Thanks. I can’t talk much, but we shall soon be home 
now,” said Claude with a groan. 

The fog was gradually getting thinner as they went 
downhill, and in a few minutes they were in the village and 
could see down into the valley where it was quite clear. 

“ Is this the house ? ” asked Jack, as the artist paused 
at a little cottage on the hillside and pulled out a latch- 
key. 

“Yes, here we are. Come in ; I must knock up the 
people, for I expect I shall have to send for a doctor ; 
there is a bullet in my leg, I am afraid,” said Claude, as he 
hopped into the sitting room and threw himself on to 
a sofa, signing to Jack to sit down. 

“ A bullet ! ” exclaimed Jack in amazement. 

A lamp was burning in the room, and a bottle of whisky 
and some biscuits and glasses stood on the table. Jack 
now saw blood was oozing from the artist’s high boot, and 


THE STRAIGHTEST PATH. 


167 


to his alarm, he looked as if he were in the act of fainting 
away. Jack mixed some whisky and water in a tumbler, 
and held it to his lips, just in time to save him from losing 
consciousness. 

“ Thanks. Better directly. Help yourself,” said Mr. 
Claude faintly. 

“ Don’t talk. I am all right, thanks. Finish this, and 
then may I try and get your boot off ? ” said Jack. 

The artist nodded assent, and Jack took hold of the 
wounded leg and looked at it. 

“ I say, may I ring for help ? I don’t think the bullet is 
in your leg, it seems to me it has gone clean through it. 
There are two little round holes about an inch from each 
side of the back seam of your boot ; blood is oozing out of 
each. I believe the bullet has gone clean through it, boot 
and leg and all. It is the neatest thing I ever saw in my 
life, but the blood will pour out when I take the boot off ; 
we shall want some rag to bandage it.” 

“ All right. Ring, please. Perhaps we had better 
send for the doctor ; I don’t suppose this old lady can bind 
it up.” 

“ I can, though. My sisters and I attended an ambu- 
lance class once and I learnt how to bandage a wound to 
perfection.” 

“ Thanks. Gypsies are excellent doctors, aren’t they ? ” 
said the artist with a smile, as the landlady answered the 
bell and received instructions to bring a basin of warm 
water and some towels and bandages, and then to prepare 
a bed for Jack, who she learnt to her dismay was to sleep 
there that night. 

“ It is all right, old lady ; I should like a bath and shav- 
ing water at seven. I have hired a bed on the common 
somewhere, but I have lost my way and can’t find it,” said 
Jack, and his voice and manner reassured her, while the 
clever way in which he proceeded to do up the wounded 
leg quite won her heart. 

“ Now look here, that is all right for the present, but as 
I am not sure that something more is not necessary, shall 
I go for the nearest doctor ?” said Jack. 

“ No, thanks, it is past midnight now ; it will be daylight 
again in two or three hours ; there is a man in the house 


i68 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


who can go then. I’ll lie here till then,” said Claude, who 
seemed inclined to go to sleep. So, after waiting a little 
while to see if he could do any more, Jack went to bed, 
wondering as he fell asleep how Sanders got back to the 
van in the fog. 

Sanders, as it happened, had been rather more fortunate 
than Jack, because she kept to the high road and resolutely 
refused to stir off it, until either Virginia or Kitty answered 
to her shouts, and it was some time before they did 
so. 

After Jack left them, they sat at the open door of the 
van anxiously peering into the fog and growing darkness 
for some sign of Sanders. As the time went on and there 
was no sign of her, Kitty grew more and more nervous, and 
every sound which disturbed the deep silence of the night 
alarmed her ; the fog seemed to stifle her and she felt as if 
she could not breathe. 

Once or twice, the melancholy sound of the lowing of 
cattle, borne on the fog-laden air, reached the van and 
sounded so weird, that Kitty seriously asked Virginia if she 
thought there were any wild animals on the common. 

Then some cats in the neighboring garden howled, and 
Kitty seized Vi and asked nervously, “ What’s that ? ” 

Then a donkey brayed and Kitty had another panic ; 
then she heard footsteps outside the van, and was sure it 
was a robber coming to murder them. 

“ Hush, Kitty, don’t be so silly. Listen a minute. Yes, 
there are footsteps, it is Sanders. I will shout,” said Vir- 
ginia, standing upon the steps and shouting, “ Sanders, is 
that you ? ” 

There was no answer, though Virginia called out several 
times. 

“ O Vi, it is a man ! I can smell tobacco,” whispered 
Kitty. 

Virginia thought she could, too, and she certainly heard 
footsteps, and she fancied she could distinguish a glimmer 
of light as from a pipe, for a minute. 

‘‘ Who is there ? ” shouted Virginia, but there was no 
answer. 

“ I’ll get my saloon pistol, Kitty, and fire that off ; it is only 
some wretched tramp trying to frighten us,” said Vi, going 


THE STRAIGHTEST PATH 169 

to the van for her pistol and returning to the door with it 
loaded. 

This time she thought she could distinguish the outline 
of a man’s figure looming large in the fog, and she felt 
rather frightened, alone in this van, away from all possi- 
bility of help if it were a robber. 

“ Who is there ? If you don’t answer before I have 
counted three, I shall fire. One, two, three,” cried Vir- 
ginia, and as there was no reply at the word three she fired. 

“ O Vi, what have you done ? Have you killed any- 
one ? Oh ! how dreadful if you have,” said Kitty, who was 
now shaking with fright. 

“ No, I aimed low ; it is gone into the ground, I expect ; 
I only wanted to frighten him. I did see someone, but he 
has disappeared now ; no doubt he is running for his life,” 
said Virginia. 

“ Oh ! do come in and lock the door, Vi. Oh ! I’ll never 
let Jack and Sanders both leave us again on this horrid 
lonely common. Do let us change with Jack at night ; let 
him sleep here, if he does not mind, and let us go into 
lodgings,” said Kitty. 

“ We’ll hear what the others say. At any rate, I think we 
have the best of it to-night, Kitty, those two poor things 
are perhaps wandering about on the common. Hark ! I 
think I hear someone shouting,” said Vi, opening the 
door, much against Kitty’s wish, and listening. 

“ Yes, it is all right, Kitty, it is Sanders. Here we are, 
Sanders,” shouted Virginia, taking the lamp and holding it 
up in one arm and looking like a grand caryatid. 

“ Here I come at last,” cried Sanders, and a minute after 
she appeared with a lantern in her hand ; “ I had a great 
mind to get a bed in the village, only I thought you would 
be frightened. It is a wonder I ever found the van. I must 
have stopped and shouted in ten different places before you 
answered, and I was determined I would not budge from 
the road till you did.” 

“ O Sanders, I am so glad you have come. I have 
been so frightened ; there have been such dreadful noises, 
howling and mooing, and caterwauling and braying, and 
there was a man prowling round the van and Vi fired 
at him.” 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


170 


“ Well, I never ! your a pretty pair to be left in a fog ; 
Miss Vi to get nervous, too ! I dare say it was only that 
artist ; he was mooning about looking for the van when I 
went out,” said Sanders. 

“ Did you see him ?” said Virginia, turning very pale. 

“ Yes, he did not see me though.” 

“Oh, dear! I wish I had not fired. O Kitty, do you 
think I could have hit him ?” cried Virginia. 

“ I should have come across him if you had. He was 
not hurt much, anyhow, as he has managed to get away. I 
must say I never thought I should be so glad to see the 
inside of this van as I am to-night. It is an uncanny 
place in a fog ; let’s go to bed,” said Sanders. 

Virginia could not sleep that night ; she tossed and 
turned till the broad daylight streamed through the little 
window, and then she only slept to dream she had shot a 
herd of lowing cattle, and the artist at the head of them. 
They were all up late the next morning, and it was past 
eight o’clock when Virginia left the van to go and meet 
Jack. It was a clear, bright morning and a strong wind, 
which had swept away all traces of the fog, was blowing. 
It refreshed her aching temples and seemed to put new 
life into her tired limbs, which were aching after an almost 
sleepless night ; she had nearly reached the milestone when 
she saw Jack coming up from Amberley ; she stopped to 
wait for him, and to her horror saw traces of blood by the 
milestone. 

“ Oh, dear ! I hope I did not wound anyone last night ; 
at any rate Jack is safe, that is one comfort. I wish I knew 
the artist was,” she thought as Jack joined her. 

“Good-morning. Where do you think I have been 
sleeping? At the artist’s lodgings. Poor fellow, he was 
shot through the leg in the fog last night, and I helped him 
home. I should have been wandering about all night if I 
had not met him, but I say, how pale you look ! ” 

“Is he much hurt ? ” said Virginia in a faint voice. 

“Who? Claude? Not seriously. Bullet went clean 
through his leg, boot and all. He will have to rest for a 
few days. The doctor has just been and says he will soon 
be all right if he keeps quiet. Are you ill ? ” 

“No, only upset. I did not sleep. O Jack, what 


SINGED ! 


171 

shall I do ? I shot him," and here Virginia sat down on 
the grass and to Jack’s dismay burst into tears. 

He did his best to comfort her, assuring her the artist 
was not much hurt, and in a few minutes she recovered 
herself and got up. 

“I am better now. I was faint. Let us go and tell 
Sanders and Kitty what a brute I have been, and then we 
will hold a family council, and see if there is anything we 
can do for him, without compromising ourselves. Oh, 
dear ! Oh, dear ! I shall never forgive myself if 1 have 
hurt that poor man seriously," said Virginia as they went 
back to breakfast. 

All her anger was gone now and only a divine pity 
filled her heart, and a longing which her pride would 
never have allowed her to gratify, had there been no 
other obstacles, to go and nurse him and prove that she, 
too, could be a ministering angel on occasion. 


CHAPTER XVIII. 

SINGED ! 

Mrs. Vaughan, Lily, and James were all at the door to 
receive Lottie when the fly reached The Cottage, for Mr. 
Savage had called to tell them that she had had an acci- 
dent ; but he had given so vague an account of what had 
occurred that when Mrs. Vaughan saw Lottie carried in 
half fainting with her dress burnt, she was so terrified she 
burst into tears, and followed her upstairs, sobbing and 
wringing her fat red hands helplessly, while Miss Savage 
and Lily put the patient to bed. 

Lottie, unnerved as she was, kept assuring her mother she 
would be quite well the next day, and begged them on no 
account to tell Jack of the accident till after his examination. 

Lily promised, and then the doctor arrived, dressed her 
wrists and gave her some medicine, and told her to try and 
go to sleep and forget all about the fire. And later in the 
evening Mr. Barrett called to inquire for Lottie and told 
Mrs. Vaughan of her courage, and said he should insist on 
paying the doctor’s bill, having once heard Lottie say they 


172 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


never had a doctor, as they could not afford it, so he had 
taken upon himself to send Dr. Cross. 

The next day Lottie was better, but by no means well. 
She kept in her own room and saw no one but Dr. Cross 
and Miss Savage, and on the following day, which was Sat- 
urday, she went downstairs, but to Lily’s surprise refused 
to see Mr. Barrett, who called to inquire for her. 

“ He wants to know if you feel well enough to go for a 
drive with him,” said Lily. 

“ No, and if I did I would not go with him,” said Lottie 
pettishly. 

“ Why not, dear?” asked Lily wondering. 

“ Because he suspected me of setting fire to his house,” 
said Lottie ; “ I — I hate him,” she continued, as she burst 
into a fit of tears: “but I mean to marry him for all that,” 
she added, drying her eyes after a very brief April 
shower. 

“ Oh, how horrid of him, Lottie, darling ! I shall never 
like him again.” 

“ It is a horrid world, l>ily ! ” 

“ It is, Lottie — at least it is the men that spoil the world. 
False, cruel creatures, I wish there were no men.” 

“ So do I ; but, O Lil, it would be deadly dull without 
them ; ” said Lottie, with such emphasis that Lily burst out 
laughing. 

“ Fancy a man-forsaken world ! What a desert it would 
be.” 

“ Lottie, did you know Mr. Barrett is very religious ! 
Miss Savage says he always goes to church twice every 
Sunday.” 

“ He does not learn charity at church, then. I am going 
to-morrow evening, perhaps I shall learn forgiveness.” 

“ O Lottie ! I don’t think you are well enough to go to 
church to-morrow, do you. Miss Savage?” exclaimed Mrs. 
Vaughan who just then entered the room with Miss Savage. 

“ Yes, I am, mother. I am not a religious person at all, 
but I was very near going to glory, as Jack would say, the 
other day, so I should just like to go to church and thank 
God that — that — that I didn’t go quite all the way,” said 
Lottie in her comic fashion. 

“ I am sure there never was a better daughter nor a better 


SINGED! J73 

girl than you, Lottie, whether you are religious or not,” said 
Mrs. Vaughan. 

“A person who acts up to the light that is in him, is, in 
my opinion, a religious person, if he never says a prayer ; 
but I dare say I am wrong ; I am very unorthodox, I 
know,” said Miss Savage. 

“ I am of this world worldly, I don’t pretend to be any- 
thing else. One thing I never have done, and I never will 
do, and that is go to church or say my prayers because it is 
the custom to do it. I go to church when I feel inclined, 
when I am not inclined I keep away. When I am up late 
in the morning, or am very tired at night, I don’t say any 
prayers. When I was rolling on that floor on Thursday, I 
did,” said Lottie. 

“Well, Lottie, I should say you act up to your lights. 
I don’t believe God meant us all to be saints. For myself, 
I very rarely go to church or chapel. There are so many 
ways of praying ; my way is suffering, and I can do that better 
at home than at church. But for those who, like Mr Bar- 
rett, think church-going the only orthodox path to heaven, 
why let them follow it.” 

“ Is Mr. Barrett very orthodox? ” 

“ Yes ; he is really very good ; he is not very clever or 
brilliant, but he has excellent judgment and plenty of com- 
mon sense. He is religious in my way, too, as well as'inthe 
conventional sense ; he goes to church because he believes 
it to be his duty ; it may be his pleasure also. And then he 
is so good to the poor when they really need help.” 

“ Why, I have learned more of his character in five minutes’ 
conversation with you, than I could in a year from him- 
self.” 

“Yes, he is. very reserved. I have the greatest respect 
for him ; he has been my best friend for years,” said Miss 
Savage. 

“ I think she suspects I am angry with him, and so I am,” 
said Lottie, after Miss Savage had left. 

That evening a case of wine arrived for Mrs. Vaughan 
from Mr. Barrett, Dr. Cross having told him the girls were 
neither of them strong, and wanted building up, and he 
suspected that they did not live well enough. 

Lottie went to church on Sunday evening, and Mr, BaD 


174 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


rett and Mr. Short walked home with her and Lily. Mr. 
Barrett made tender inquiries after Lottie’s health, to which 
she gave very short answers ; in fact she was so stiff and so 
unlike herself that it was clear to him that he had offended 
her, and he knew how. He had been hoping she had been 
too ill to take in the implied accusation when he made it, 
but evidently she had not only heard and marked, but also 
inwardly digested it. 

“ I am afraid I have offended you,” he said at last, when 
he found he could get nothing but monosyllables from the 
usually lively Lottie. 

“Yes, you have offended and hurt me,” said Lottie 
frankly, with a touch of her old manner. 

“ I am very sorry.” 

“ I risked my life to save your house, and you actually 
suspected me of setting fire to it, and if you had not hap- 
pened to have seen Mr. Savage loafing about, you would 
have suspected me still. Perhaps you would have pros- 
ecuted me for arson, and I might now have been in prison, 
for there is no money to bail me out, or to pay for my 
defense, which would have been very weak in the face of 
such circumstantial evidence,” said Lottie. 

“ Hush ! Let us confine ourselves to my real offense ; 
that is bad enough in all conscience, please don’t exag- 
gerated it. As it is, I don’t know how I am to atone 
for it.” 

“ I do, but I can’t suggest the way,” thought Lottie. 

“ I can only express my very real sorrow, and beg you to 
forgive me, and I think you are too kind to refuse to do 
that,” said Mr. Barrett bending down to her level. 

“No, I can’t refuse that, particularly as you saved my 
life,” said Lottie reluctantly ; she was not quite herself yet. 

“ That is right. Please forget, as well as forgive, that I 
was such an utter idiot as to imagine anything of the kind.” 

“ Have you taken any precautions to prevent another 
attempt ? ” 

“ Yes. My man will sleep there in future. By the way, 
I want you to do me another great kindness. Please, 
never tell Miss Savage who set fire to it, it would almost 
kill her to know the truth.” 

“ J shall never teU her. I have not even told Lily ; in 


ringed! 175 

fact, we never mention the fire. Dr. Cross does not want 
me to think of it.” 

“ I wish I could see you looking better, you must get 
back your roses.” 

“ I shall be better, now I know you no longer suspect me, 
and we have buried the hatchet. Good-by,” said Lottie, 
looking up at him coquettishly. 

He held her hand a minute or two as he bade her good- 
by, and Lottie blushed and ran up to her room, thinking 
as she went what her next move was to be. 

“ Oh, dear ! oh, dear ! I am no nearer gaining my object 
than when we came, not a bit nearer, really. The only 
difference is, I am beginning to want him not for the sake 
of my family, not for the sake of his house, not for the sake 
of his money, not for my own sake, but, O Lottie ! 
Lottie ! you who have resisted the fascinations of so 
many men, including Jimmy Bruce, to think that you should 
actually want to marry this good, rich, self-made duke’s 
agent for the sake of — himself ' ” 

“ What did he want to save my life for ? That did the 
mischief. If he didn’t want me for himself, why didn’t he 
let me be ? I did not want to live. Yes, I did. I am not 
well to-day. I am a stupid, despairing, hysterical fool to- 
day, that’s what I am. But I will have him. I’ll marry him 
in spite of himself. He is on his guard against me, but 
never mind, he has his weak points like the rest of his dear 
sex. Vanity, thy name is man. I’ll appeal to his vanity. 
Not to-night, though. I am too tired to do anything to- 
night. To-morrow morning I shall be fresh, and then I’ll 
see what I can do.” 

Thus thinking Lottie went down to supper, and soon after 
she went to bed. The next morning she did not get up to 
breakfast, but asked Lily to bring her up some tea and 
toast and her writing case, as she had some letters to 
write. 

She spent a great part of the morning over her corre- 
spondence, and yet she only wrote two letters, one to Mr. 
Barrett, asking him to dine with them the following evening. 
This note she put into an envelope, and directed to Captain 
Bruce, stamped it, and put it into her writing case, the 
other letter, she directed to George Barrett, and when she 


LOTTIE^ S WOOWG. 


176 

went down to luncheon she sent James across to The Crown 
with it. 

“ Was Mr. Barrett at home ? 

“ Yes, ma’am. I am to go for the answer presently.” 

“ Very well, just fetch me my writing case, I have another 
letter for you to post when you go out again.” 

James fetched the writing case, and when luncheon was 
over, Lottie took out the letter for Captain Bruce. Looked 
at it, and exclaimed aloud. 

“ Was there ever such an idiot ? What on earth am I to 
do ? I have sent the vvrong letter to Mr. Barrett, and was 
just going to post his invitation to dinner to Captain Bruce. 
I must write another note to Mr. Barrett and explain. 
Wait a minute, James, you must run back to The Crown.” 

“ Well, I never, Lottie. AVhat did you say to the Cap- 
tain ?” asked Mrs. Vaughan. 

“ What didn’t I say, you mean, mother ? There never 
was such a catastrophe,” said Lottie, as she wrote the fol- 
lowing note to Mr. Barrett. 

“ Dear Mr. Barrett : 

“I was writing to a great friend of mine in Jersey this 
morning, and have most stupidly sent the letter to you, 
instead of a note I was on the point of posting to you 
inviting you to dinner to-morrow, which I now enclose. It 
is a most unfortunate mistake, but my consolation is, I am 
sure my secret, which it contains, will be safe in your keep- 
ing, please return it to me. 

“ Yours sincerely, 

“Lottie Vaughan.” 

When this second note reached Mr. Barrett, he was just 
recovering from the effect the first letter had had on him. 

It was certainly rather a startling communication ; it ran 
as follows : 


“The Cottage, Workwell, June ii. 

“ My Dear Jim : 

“ Too late ! Too late ! Why didn’t you ask me sooner? 
In the old Jersey days which seem so long ago, when you 
were as poor as a church mouse, I would have followed you 


SINGED ! 


177 


to the end of the world, if you had asked me. I would 
have lived on porridge all the days of my life and dressed 
in cotton to my life’s end for the joy of being your wife. 

“ Time was, time is. Nous avons changi touti cela. Now, 
Jim, dear, the tables are turned and it is poor little Lottie 
who is sighing like a furnace and enduring the tortures you 
used to talk about. For whom, you say ? 

“ Ah ! I can’t tell you that ; that’s a secret which will 
live and die with me, and the sooner we both die, my 
secret and I, the better, for it is rare bad company to live 
with. 

“ No, Jim, I can’t marry you, dear old boy ; I wish I 
could, and if someone who must be nameless does not ask 
me to be his wife, I shall die an old maid. I could not live, 
and to be an old maid — that’s utterly impossible. 

“ Fancy little Lottie an old maid ! You can’t, can you ? 
Nor can I, Jim, dear. 

“Good-by, old man. Keep up your spirits, forget Lottie, 
and marry an heiress. Au revoir. 

“ Lottie.” 

Mr. Barrett returned this remarkable epistle without a 
word of comment ; he enclosed a note accepting the invita- 
tion to dinner, but he made no allusion to Lottie’s unfor- 
tunate mistake. 

“ Did he read it. What wouldn’t I give to be certain he 
has read it? I played very high this time; shall I win ? I 
shall know to-morrow evening what effect it has had. How 
shall I live till then ? Bah ! I must live and cook the din- 
ner and teach James how to dish it up, for I can’t even 
afford a charwoman. Oh, what it is to be poor ! O Lottie, 
Lottie ! there are worse evils than poverty in this world. 
Wae’s me ! Wae’s me !” 


178 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


CHAPTER XVII. 

GOOD-BY FOREVER. 

She was not lovely where she loved, 

The saddest thing that can befall a woman. 

Goethe. 

The artist was ordered to keep in bed for a day or two, 
so the gypsy party saw nothing of him until Wednesday 
evening, when Jack went to inquire for him, while Virginia 
and Kitty waited outside to hear the report. 

“ He is going on all right. He expects a friend to stay 
with him to-morrow, and hopes to have the pleasure of intro- 
ducing him to us. I said I was going away for a few days, 
and perhaps you would rather not make his acquaintance 
till I came back,” said Jack. 

“ Certainly not, we don’t want to make any more 
acquaintances, but I wonder what the friend is like. I shall 
be curious to see ; ‘ show me your friends and I’ll tell you 
who you are’ is an excellent maxim,” said Virginia, little 
thinking her own brother was the friend in question. 

Alec reached Stroud the following evening and was met 
by a hired dog-cart whose driver told him of Mr. Claude’s 
accident.” 

“ Well, old boy. Sorry you find me laid up. I’d half a 
mind to telegraph to you not to come, but I felt rather dull, 
so I was selfish enough to let you come, in spite of this 
accident. 

“ How did it happen ? ” 

“ My gypsy’s doing. I was prowling about their van 
under cover of the fog, trying to get a glimpse of her fair 
form, for we had a tiff the night before, and as I did not 
answer when she challenged me, she very properly put a 
bullet through my leg.” 

“ The deuce ! She is a real gypsy then.” 

“No, she is a lady. The boy is an uncommonly nice 
fellow ; we ran against each other in the fog and he brought 
me home. You can stroll on to the common after dinner 
and have a look at them ; but you’ll play fair, Willoughby. 


GOOD-BY FOREVER. 


179 


I am in sober earnest about my gypsy, don’t you try to cut 
me out.” 

“No fear. I am in a precious scrape, Lawrence ; I’ll try 
and tell you about it while I am here. Your present con- 
dition precludes all possibility of your licking me, which is 
about what I deserve.” 

“ Dear old fellow, I thought you looked rather down on 
your luck. Is it a woman ? ” 

“ Two.” 

“ You are a bad lot, Willoughby, I am afraid. Never 
mind, old boy, go and look at my gypsy ; she’ll do you good. 
By the way, if you should happen to get into conversation 
with any of them, which I don’t think is at all probable, 
remember I am Mr. Claude, a poor struggling artist, infin- 
itely beneath my gypsy’s real dignity, as I am sure she 
thinks.” 

“ All right,” said Alec, and after dinner he strolled on to 
the common, and made for the van, which to his disap- 
pointment was locked up and it was evident the inhabitants 
were not at home. 

He turned away rather in disgust, till he caught sight of 
a girl with a red shawl over her head and shoulders walk- 
ing across the grass, about a quarter of a mile ahead of him, 
picking flowers. 

“ There’s one of them. She has a fine figure, it is evi- 
dently Lawrence’s gypsy. She walks like Vi, with the 
same queenly air. I’ll go and inspect her,” thought Alec, 
as he walked after the gypsy. 

The nearer he got to her, the more forcibly the likeness 
to his sister struck him ; they were the same height, they had 
the same air, grace, dignity. At last he overtook her and, 
as she turned half round on hearing his footstep, Alec found 
to his amazement it actually was Virginia. 

“ Alec ! ” exclaimed Virginia, who was scarcely less sur- 
prised than her brother. 

“ Vi, what in the name of fortune are you doing here ? ” 
he asked as they embraced each other. 

“ Having the most glorious time I ever had in my life ; 
the only drawback is that Kitty is not in good spirits,” said 
Virginia, suppressing or perhaps forgetting the other draw- 
back, that she had been turned out of her home for his sake. 


1^0 


LOTTIE'S woomd. 


“ Is Kitty with you, then ? ” said Alec, Kitty being one 
of the last people he wished to meet just then. 

“ Yes, and Sanders and Jack Vaughan ; he has gone up 
to London to-day for his exam.” 

Alec offered a silent thanksgiving, for he no more cared 
to meet Jack than he wished to meet Kitty. 

“ How on earth did you persuade the people to let you 
do anything so wild ? ” 

“ Father does not know, and mother agreed partly on 
account of Kitty ; we thought it would do her good. O 
Alec, how pleased she will be to see you. How did you 
find us out ? ” 

“ I didn’t know you were here ; I never was more 
surprised in my life than when I saw you.” 

“ I am so glad to see you, Alec ; do you know I am in 
such a scrape ? ” 

“ So am I, Vi ; but what is your scrape ? ” ' 

“ I have shot an artist who is down here ; it was an acci- 
dent. I did not mean to hit him and I didn’t know who it 
was I was firing at.” 

I can tell you ; he is a friend of mine named Claude. 
I have come down to stay with him.” 

“ O Alec, how strange ! Just fancy you knowing him ! 
Promise me faithfully you won’t tell him I am your sister. 
He is thoroughly mystified about us now ; I think he half 
believes we are gypsies.” 

“ Not he,” said Alec, laughing. 

“ I never heard you mention a Mr. Claude,” said Vi 
thoughtfully. 

“ Fellows have lots of friends they don’t mention to their 
sisters,” said Alec evasively. 

Virginia looked discomfited. Mr. Claude was then only 
some poor artist, and yet she was sure he was a gentle- 
man. 

“ He is an awfully nice fellow, and clever at his profes- 
sion ; in fact, I think he is a rising man,” said Alec. 

“ I am dreadfully sorry I shot him.” 

“ So am I, for my own sake as well as for his. I feel 
bound to stay and cheer him up a little, particularly now 
I know you were the cause of his accident ; otherwise 
I should be off to-morrow, since Kitty is down here.” 


GOOD-BY FOREVER, 


1^1 


“ I wish father would consent to your engagement,” 
said Vi. 

“ He never will, and the fact of the matter is, Vi, for 
I may as well confess the truth, I wish Kitty would obey 
my father and give me up.” 

“ Alec ! Why ? ” exclaimed Virginia. 

“ Because I am not worthy of her. I am a scoundrel, 
that’s what I am, and the sooner you all wash your hands 
of me the better.” 

“ Dear Alec ! What is the matter ? ” 

“ The matter is that I am madly in love with someone 
whom I never saw till I was engaged to Kitty, and 1 shall 
never care a brass farthing for anyone else, whether I marry 
her or not.” 

“ O Alec ! I am so sorry ; poor little Kitty, it will 
break her heart.” 

“ No, it won’t ; hearts don’t break so easily. I know 
I have behaved abominably, Vi, but I’m as miserable as 
ever Kitty can be, if that’s any consolation.” 

“ Does this other girl care for you ? ” 

“ I don’t know ; she did, I think, but she has. found out 
about Kitty and won’t have a word to say to me, and 
serves me right, too.” 

“ Is she a lady, Alec ? ” 

“ Yes ; she hasn’t a penny, though, so even if she’d have 
me, we shall have to wait until we are in the sere and 
yellow leaf ; but I would wait ten years for her if I had only 
eleven to live.” 

“ O Alec ! It will kill Kitty.” 

“ No, it won’t, Vi ; she’ll marry Long. But how am I to 
tell her what a brute I am ? A pretty fix I am in. I wish 
you had put that bullet which went through Claude’s leg 
into my head. If that young Vaughan were to take 
it into his head to shoot me, it would be only what 
I deserve.” 

“What has Jack to do with it?” asked Virginia in 
amazement. 

“ Nothing ; only it is his sister I am in love with and 
have vowed to marry.” 

“ Lily Vaughan ! O Alec ! she is very pretty, but she 
is only a child.” 


LOTTIE'S WOOlNC. 


1^2 

“ She will be a woman fast enough ; she is eighteen. 
I am in earnest this time, Vi ; I shall never marry anyone 
if I don’t marry Lily ; meantime, I am, I suppose, in honor 
bound to Kitty. What am I to do, Vi ? ” 

“You must tell Kitty the truth at once.” 

“ How can I tell her to her face I don’t love her ? ” 

“ I must tell her then for you.” 

“ O Vi ! you are an angel. Don’t spare me ; tell her 
I am as bad as they make them, and ask her to release 
me.” 

“ Very well ; I’ll break it to her as gently as I can to-mor- 
row morning, and I’ll meet you here to-morrow evening at 
half past eight and tell you what she says. You are quite 
sure there is no hope for Kitty, Alec.” 

“ I am quite sure I shall never love anyone but Lily, and 
never marry anyone but her, unless Kitty binds me to my 
promise to her.” 

“ Kitty won’t do that, she has too much self-respect,” 
said Vi coldly. 

“ Vi, you are an angel to do my dirty work for me, and 
not even reproach me.” 

“ Your own conscience will do that, dear, there is no need 
for me to reproach you,” said Virginia sadly. 

In her heart of hearts she did not blame Alec as much as 
he deserved to be blamed. She loved him passionately, 
and though not altogether blind to his faults, she judged him 
very leniently. Her mother, she knew, had inveigled him 
into engaging himself to Kitty. He saw she loved him, 
and having nothing else to do, he fancied himself in love 
with her and engaged himself to her. Then came his 
father’s opposition, which affected Kitty much more than 
it did him’; then he saw Lily Vaughan and the mischief 
was done. 

He was one of the favorites of fortune who always fall 
on their feet ; circumstances invariably favored him ; he 
had come down to this place in a desperate mood, not 
knowing what to do, and for want of something better 
intending to amuse himself with Claude’s little gypsy, and 
lo ! and behold, the gypsy turns out to be Kitty, and with 
Virginia’s help he saw a path through the wood. 

Virginia would help him out of his entanglement with 


GOOD-BY FOREVER. 


I S3 

Kitty, and that would clear the way for further negotiations 
with Lily ; nothing could be done with her till he had 
broken the last thread which bound him to Kitty. 

The next day was wet, it rained the whole day in one cease- 
less downpour from dawn to sunset, when apparently the 
supplies were exhausted and the rain ceased, but the skies 
were still heavy and nature seemed to be in a fit of the 
sulks. 

Alec spent most of the day in the artist’s room smoking, 
reading the paper, and, as a last resource, playing draughts. 
He volunteered no further confidence to Mr. Claude, and 
he had the good taste to ask no questions, though he saw 
Alec was restless and unhappy and unlike his usual self. 

“ Weather, Willoughby, is one of the things no fellow 
can control, but I am really ashamed of this weather. I 
would not have asked you down here if I could have fore- 
seen it.” 

“ Never mind the rain, Lawrence, it does not jar on my 
present feelings, that is one comfort.” 

‘‘ I wonder how my gypsy is getting on ? I would put on 
a macintosh and go and see if 1 could walk.” 

“ I’ll take a stroll on that common after dinner,” said 
Alec, and about eight o’clock he started to meet Virginia 
at their trysting place. 

The earth smelt sweet and fresh after the heavy rain, but 
the common looked bleak and chill under the leaden sky, 
and Alec was not struck by its beauty, and wondered what 
pleasure and what charm Virginia and Claude could find on 
a monotonous plain, exposed to every wind of heaven, and 
so entirely dependent on weather, as this great table-land 
was. 

He was at the meeting place first, but Virginia soon 
joined him, and put an end to the suspense he was enduring. 

“ Have you told her ? ” were almost his first words. 

“Yes.” 

“ What did she say ? ” 

“ Very little ; she asked me who the girl was, and I told 
her.” 

“ And what did she say then ? ” 

“ Nothing. She never spoke all day. I told her this 
morning after breakfast^ and she sat on a little stool by the 


184 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


door of the van watching the rain the whole day long. She 
never opened her lips, but sat like someone stunned ; she 
shook her head when we tried to persuade her to have some 
dinner ; she has taken nothing but a cup of tea and a piece 
of toast since breakfast.” 

“ Look here, Vi, what do you think I had best do ? 
Shall I jump into the nearest mill pool, or blow my brains 
out, or go to th^ nearest chemist and get some arsenic ? ” 
said Alec. 

“ Don’t talk nonsense, Alec ; you have done wrong and 
you must bear the consequences like a man. After all, 
you have not suffered as much as Kitty, and she does not 
talk in this mock-heroic fashion.” 

“What does she mean to do, Vi? She can’t go on not 
eating and not speaking forever.” 

“ Before I came out, she asked me where I was going, 
and I told her to meet you. Then she said she wished to 
see you once more, and asked me if I thought the Rajah 
would mind as it was to say good-by forever.” 

“ Is she coming to see me then ? ” 

“ No, you are to go to her. Sanders and I are going for 
a walk ! ” 

“ 1 would rather face a charge of cavalry,” said Alec 
gloomily. 

“I know you would. You have plenty of physical cour- 
age. If you had as much moral courage this would never 
have happened ; you must see her now as she wishes it ; it 
is the least you can do. We will stroll round toward the 
van, and then when you see me go out with Sanders you 
can go and speak to Kitty.” 

“ Does Sanders know ? ” 

“ She knows the engagement is at an end, but she does 
not know why, yet ; she will have to know though, I suppose. 
How is the artist to-day.” 

“ Better. I say, Vi, you have made a conquest ; poor old 
Claude is desperately smitten, he can talk of nothing but 
his beautiful gypsy, who is so proud she will scarcely deign . 
to speak to a poor struggling artist. I believe he thinks 
you are some queen in disguise.” 

Virginia blushed and laughed and looked rather con- 
scious, 


GOOD-BY FOREVER. 


185 


“ When will he be able to walk ? ” 

“ As soon as the place begins to heal, in a few days I 
should say. When does young Vaughan come back ? ” 

“ Oh, not till Monday. He wants to have a Sunday in 
London, so I have told him to stay.” 

“ I shall stay with Claude till Monday. When shall I 
see you again ? ” 

“To-morrow evening. Good-by, dear, you’ll feel better 
after you have seen Kitty.” 

“ Good-by. You make a lovely gypsy, Vi,” said Alec 
fondly, and then he waited till Sanders and Virginia were 
out of the way, and then strolled across the grass to Kitty. 

Kitty was a girl who owed a good deal to dress. In the 
evening when handsomely dressed, with bare white arms 
and neck, she was pretty, her thick white skin, freckled in 
summer, looked like alabaster by candle-light ; but now, 
sitting on the steps of the van in a plain serge skirt and 
print blouse, with a shawl hiding her auburn hair, she did 
not look in the least attractive. 

She was as pale as death, and not a tinge of color came 
into her face as she rose and held out one little white hand 
to Alec. 

“ Thank you for coming. I wished to say good-by to 
you.” 

She spoke very calmly and quietly, but Alec saw she was 
trembling ; there were no traces of tears on her pale face, 
in fact, she had not shed a tear all day ; there was a sort of 
dazed expression about her which reproached Alec more 
than any words could have done. 

“ Forgive me, Kitty, will you ? ” murmured Alec holding 
her hands in his. 

“ Yes, Alec, I wanted to tell you I forgive you, and I 
release you from every promise you have ever made me. 
Vi has told me you wish it, and you know I have always 
done as you wished,” said Kitty in gentle measured tones. 

Afterward when Alec thought of this scene, it seemed to 
him she had spoken like a person in a dream, as if she 
were not awake to the realities of life. 

“ Don’t, Kitty. Tell me l am a brute and a scamp, and 
you never wish to set eyes on me again,” burst out Alec. 

“ I never do wish to see you again,” said Kitty calmly. 


i86 


LOTTIE'S WOOING, 


“ What ? Do you mean it ? Do you really mean you 
wish never to see me again ? ” said Alec, who was rather 
taken aback at hearing this ; he could hardly believe it. 

“ Yes, I mean it ; it is the only thing I ask.” 

“ Won’t you still keep a corner of your heart for me ? ” 
asked Alec. 

He could no more help asking it than he could help his 
good looks, this fascinating Alec. 

“ No, Alec. We shall part to-night and I shall be nothing 
to you.” 

“ Won’t you still be my little sister as you are Vi’s ? ” 

“ No ; I never had a sister’s love for you, and I never 
shall have it,” said Kitty quietly, and Alec fancied the 
shadow of a smile flitted across her pale little face. 

“ Shall we never meet again then ? ” 

I hope not. If you wish to spare me further pain 
promise me, as far as you can prevent it, we never shall 
meet again. Promise me as long as I live at Greenhouse, 
you won’t go there while I am at home.” 

“ I promise.” 

“ Thank you. I shan’t live there much longer,” said 
Kitty still in the same quiet, dreamy tone. 

“ Kitty, I wish you would reproach me.” 

“ I have nothing to reproach you for. I don’t blame you 
in the least. It was not your fault, but my misfortune. I 
was not lovely when I loved, the saddest fate that can 
befall a woman. Good-by, Alec.” 

The shawl fell off her head as she lifted her face up to 
Alec and exposed the auburn coils of hair; fora minute 
the girl’s face seemed transformed ; it looked positively 
beautiful, transfigured as it was by the light of love which 
shone in her eyes, and as Alec bent and kissed her lips he 
found himself wondering he had never before noticed her 
beauty. 

The next moment she had disappeared and shut herself 
in the van, and Alec strode across the wet common feeling 
smaller than he had ever felt in his life before. 

“ Poor little Kitty ! She was awfully fond of me — 
fonder than Lily will ever be ; she could not love like that 
if she tried. I wonder what Kitty meant by saying she 
would npt be long at Greenhouse, 


GOOD-BY FOREVER. 


187 


“ Does she mean to marry Long after all ? 

“ She has given me up with a vengeance ; won’t give me 
even a corner of her heart, and scorned the idea of being 
my sister. 

“ I didn’t think she had so much pluck in her. 

“ After all, I am not so sure that it was pluck. How odd 
she looked when she said she should not live long at 
Greenhouse. 

“ I don’t half like it. I’ll tell Virginia to keep an eye on 
her ; when girls are crossed in love they sometimes do very 
foolish things. 

Pshaw ! What a fool I am ! Kitty is not the sort of 
girl to commit suicide. 

“ And yet she looked uncommonly strange, and somehow 
I feel as if I should never see her again. 

“ I have half a mind to go back now and break the 
spell.” 

So thinking, Alec turned round and retraced his steps 
over the spongy soil on which the worms were disporting 
themselves after the rain, but he did not go back far. 

“ I must not do that. I might upset her. I have just 
promised never to see her again ; I can’t break my promise. 
How her face haunts me ! I never saw her look as she did 
when she said good-by. It was like an angel’s face. 

“ I can’t shake off the feeling that I shall never see her 
again. I believe this common is an uncanny place ; I 
hate it. 

“ I’ll go back to old Lawrence. I wish I could tell him 
all about it, but I can’t without betraying who Vi is. 

“ Hang it all ! Kitty’s face seems burnt into my brain. 
I can’t forget it. I shan’t sleep a wink to-night. Her face 
haunts me, and her words, ‘ I shan’t live long at Green- 
house,’ are ringing in my ears. 

“ A nice predicament I am in. The girl I love won’t 
have a word to say to me ; and the girl I did love and 
ought to love is dying for me. 

“ I wonder what old Lawrence would say if he knew it.” 

By this time Alec had reached the artist’s lodgings, where, 
as he had foreseen, he passed an almost sleepless night, toss- 
ing and turning and trying to escape from the little pale 
face which haunted him. 


88 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


He was free, but he could not enjoy his freedom. He 
feared he had bought it at too high a price, and those fears 
were confirmed the next morning, when, before he went 
down to breakfast, he was told a Mrs. Sanders wished to 
speak to him. 

He dreaded meeting Sanders, not because he knew she 
would not spare his feelings, but because he feared she 
might have brought him bad news. He hurried downstairs, 
for suspense was worse to bear than certainty, and found 
Sanders in the parlor where his breakfast was waiting him. 
The artist was in the next room, which communicated by 
folding doors with this, so he could not help hearing all that 
was said if he were awake. 

“ Good-morning, Sanders. Won’t you sit down ? ” 

“ No, Mr. Alec. I would go on my bended knees to you 
if I thought it was any use, but I know it is as useless as 
praying for rain when your next door neighbor is begging 
for fair weather.” 

“ What do you mean ? Don’t talk in parables ; is there 
anything the matter ? ” 

“ Nothing. Only you have broken Miss Kitty’s heart, 
that is all. You have killed her, Mr. Alec, with your hand- 
some face and your sweet words and your fascinating ways, 
and your false promises, like pie crust, made to be broken. 
Mark my words, sir, that child won’t live out the year,” 
said Sanders, standing facing Alec. 

She was dressed in her ordinary way, thinking, perhaps, 
had she come as a gypsy she might have been refused 
admittance. 

“ You don’t know that, Sanders, any more than I do,” 
said Alec, feeling he must say something. 

“ I am as sure of it as I am that your words to her were as 
hollow as my shoe when my foot is out. She will die, and 
you have killed her. No one else will tell you truth, so I 
will, and that’s my business here this morning. ‘ Truth is 
heavy, that’s why so few people care to carry it,’ I have 
heard.” 

“ Your reproaches are just, Sanders. I confess it, I have 
been a scamp, I know, and I don’t mean to make any 
excuses.” 

“ It wasn’t your fault only ; I’ll say that. Madam was 


GOOD-BY FOREVER. 


189 


to blame as well. Her ways are as crooked as Robin 
Hood’s bow, though she is your mother. If she’d been 
open and above board with the general, it would never have 
happened, and I’ll tell her so before I die.” 

“ No one is to blame but me, Sanders. I can do nothing 
now either ; it is too late, Kitty would not have me were I 
to ask her.” 

“ No, I don’t believe she would. It is not likely she’d 
stoop to take up somebody’s else’s leaving. No, she’ll die, 
that’s what she’ll do ; but where’s the use of talking ? 
You’ll be as merry as a grig six months after she has gone, 
and left this wicked world no better a place than she found 
it. I know what men are, though, praise the Lord, I never, 
had aught to do with them. There, I have had my say 
and much good may it do you.” 

“ You’ll shake hands, Sanders ; Kitty has forgiven me, 
won’t you ?” and Alec held out his hand. 

“ There’s no resisting you, Mr. Alec. No wonder my 
poor lamb is bleating after your handsome face. I suppose 
you can no more help it than you can help the color of your 
eyes which have broke one heart, and I dare say will break 
some more before they have done.” 

“ I hope not. Good-by, Sanders. I hope you’ll turn out 
a bad prophetess.” 

And Sanders having relieved her soul of part of its 
burden by this outburst, went away and Alec sat down to 
breakfast, thinking to himself : 

“ I wonder if old Lawrence is awake ; if so, he must have 
been edified by my morning visitor.” 

Tbe artist, who was lying in bed smoking, had heard the 
greater part of the above conversation ; at first he had not 
recognized Sanders’ voice till Alec mentioned her name, 
and then, when Sanders spoke of Miss Kitty, it dawned upon 
him that Alec’s visitor and the gypsy who posed as the 
mother of Kitty and Jack were one and the same person. 

Evidently Alec must have known these pseudo gypsies 
before he came to Amberley ; it was impossible he should 
have wrought such havoc in Kitty’s heart in two evenings. 
Now the artist came to think of it, Alec had been very 
reticent indeed about these gypsies, and had not told him 
that he had spoken to them. 


190 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


“ I wish my leg were all right ; I should like to see what 
old Alec is up to. I believe he is in my gypsies’ confidence 
and knows who they are, and is helping to hoodwink me. 
He has burnt his own fingers in playing with the fair Kitty, 
that is one consolation. I wonder if I could get out in a 
bath chair. I wonder if there is such a thing to be had in 
this Arcadia. I’ll ring and ask Mrs. Woods.” 

He rang the bell and when he answered his landlady’s 
questions about his health he said in a serio-comic voice : 

“ ‘ I am a stranger here in Gloucestershire, 

These high wild hills and rough uneven ways ’ 

don’t suit my complaint at all. Is it possible to get such a 
thing as a bath chair here ? ” 

It was quite possible; there was one to be had in the vil- . 
lage, and the landlady’s husband and son would pull him 
on the common in it with pleasure. Delighted at this infor- 
mation Mr, Claude ordered the chair to be ready at half 
past eight that evening, giving as his reason for going out 
so late that he did not care to be seen in such an humble 
conveyance. 

Having settled this, he lay waiting for Alec, and chuck- 
ling to himself about the way he would surprise him and 
the gypsies that evening. When Alec came in to see him 
he greeted him with one of Herrick’s songs : 

‘ ‘ I bring ye love. What will love do ? 

Love will befool ye. 

“ I bring ye love. What will love do? 

Heat ye to cool ye. 

“ I bring ye love. What will love do? 

Stroke ye to strike ye.” 

^‘Well, Lawrence. You seem very fit this morning,” 
said Alec, as the artist trolled out this song in a deep bass. 

“ I can’t say the same for you. Look here, old man, it 
is very dull for you here, why not go to Gloucester and 
look at the cathedral ! ” 

“ I think I will,” said Alec, and acting on his friend’s sug- 
gestion he went to Gloucester for the day and got home 
about five o’clock. 


LOTTIE'S SPHINX. 


191 

To his surprise he found Lawrence lying on a sofa in the 
gar.den, on a little grass lawn on the side of the hill com- 
manding a lovely view of the valley beneath, and the pic- 
turesque pile of buildings forming the Dominican Priory 
and church halfway up the opposite hill. 

The artist told his friend his doctor had been to see him 
and had given him leave to get up, but he did not add that 
he had intended to do so, leave or no leave, nor did he 
mention his proposed airing in the bath chair. 

Once or twice, as they sat taking tea in the garden, Alec 
was on the point of confiding his love troubles to his friend, 
but the fact that Virginia wished to preserve her incognito 
prevented him from doing so. 

After dinner, to his friend’s secret amusement, Alec 
announced his intention of going for a stroll on the common, 
and as soon as he was out of sight, the artist followed in his 
bath chair. 


CHAPTER XX. 

Lottie’s sphinx. 

Lottie’s accident had been beneficial to Lily ; it had 
roused her and given her something else to think of besides 
Alec Willoughby. She was still very angry with him, but 
she wished to believe he loved her, so she believed it. Our 
secular creeds are founded on our wishes ; we believe 
certain things will happen because we wish them to 
happen, and very often because of our faith they do 
happen. 

Lily wished to believe Lottie’s assurances that Alec 
Willoughby loved her, though he had gone away in high 
dudgeon, and because she wished it to be true she believed 
it. 

It was deadly dull without him, though, so when Lottie 
proposed giving a little dinner Lily was delighted. 

Can we afford it, Lottie ? ” 

“ My dear child, we can’t afford bread and cheese to 
keep our bodies and souls together this month, but we must 
eat to live. Nothing venture, nothing have. My little 


192 


LOTTIE'S WOOING, 


dinner is an investment, a speculation ; I shall spend 
a few shillings in the hope of winning — well, my fortune.” 

“ We need not buy wine ; that Mr. Barrett sent you will 
do. Who are you going to ask ? ” 

“ Only Mr. Barrett and the curates, Mr. Short and Mr. 
Long ; they will all come.” 

“ What are you going to give them to eat ? ” 

“A couple of nice chickens and a leg of mutton, Lottie ; 
your chickens are fit to kill,” said Mrs. Vaughan. 

“ Perish the thought, and let the chickens live. Men 
hate chickens, and joints are out of fashion. I must tickle 
their palates. Mr. Barrett likes a good dinner. A salmon 
steak, lamb cutlets, one of my ducklings, a few good 
entrees, and some sweets is more of my idea of a little 
dinner, mother. Lil and I must cook it ; we have only 
James to wait on us. You can make the jellies and 
trifle, mother.” 

“ Then I had better go and look out my recipes,” said 
Mrs. Vaughan, waddling off to do so.” 

“ O Lil ! Lil ! Lil ! what an odious disease this is that 
you and I are suffering from. It is worse than scarlet 
fever and ten thousand times worse than measles,” 
exclaimed Lottie, throwing herself into the courting chair 
and swinging her pretty feet backward and forward to get 
a good view of them. 

All Lottie’s good points were a source of happiness to 
her ; she loved to dress her beautiful hair becomingly; she 
enjoyed putting her pretty figure into a well-fitting dress; 
she liked to look at her little feet, and she took great care 
of those clever white little hands. 

“What disease, Lottie? ” 

“ The one that you and — that I should live to say it — I 
have so badly — Love. It is a horrible complaint, Lil ; you 
don’t care to eat, you can’t sleep, you are restless ; you 
don’t care to live, and you don’t want to die.” 

“ And if you wanted to die you couldn’t. Yes, Lottie, it 
is a horrid complaint.” 

“ I wish it were catching. Oh, dear ! Lil, I have played 
my best trump and I am not sure that I shall win the trick, 
after all. If I could only see his hand I should know what 
to play next.” 


LOTTIE'S SPHINX. 


193 


What have you done now, Lottie ? ” 

“ I can’t tell you ; I will tell you the result when I know 
it, though. Here comes Mr. Barrett.” 

“ Shall I stay in the room ? ” 

“ Do as you would be done by,” laughed Lottie, and 
Lily went away leaving her sister in an agony of suspense. 

Mr. Barrett didn’t stay long ; he came to inquire for 
Lottie, who professed to be quite well. 

He made no allusion of any kind to her mistake and 
Lottie was equally puzzled to know if he had read her 
letter refusing Captain Bruce, and supposing he had done 
so, if he understood who the happy rival was. 

She tried once or twice to allude to it, but even she 
found it impossible ; the change in her feeling for Mr. 
Barrett handicapped her. Before she cared for him she 
would have alluded to the letter with the greatest aplomb ; 
now she could not. Love is a great restraining power. 

One little sign Mr. Barrett did give before he left, he 
asked to look through Lottie’s album, and inquired the 
names of all her gentlemen friends in it. 

“ He read it, I believe. Oh, if I only knew what he 
thinks of it, but I might as well try to read the sphinx’s 
secret as to read his thoughts. I shall call him my sphinx,” 
thought Lottie. 

The more Lottie saw of Mr. Barrett, the less she knew 
of him ; he baffled all her efforts at understanding his 
character and reading his thoughts. She believed Miss 
Savage held the key to Mr. Barrett’s mind, and partly on 
this account, partly because she really liked her, Lottie 
cultivated Miss Savage, and often dropped in to tea with 
her. 

She went to The Dell the day before her little dinner, 
and Miss Savage consciously or unconsciously shed some 
light on the feelings Lottie’s last trick had produced on her 
sphinx’s mind. 

“Mr. Barrett was here last night ; he dines with us every 
Wednesday, and we practice all the evening.” 

“ He plays beautifully, doesn’t he ?” said Lottie. 

“ Yes, but not so well as my father, though it would not 
do to tell him so ; his pet vanity is his violin playing,” said 
Miss Savage. 


194 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


Lottie made a mental note of this fact for future use. 

“ Has he any other vanity ? " she asked. 

“ Yes, he considers he has excellent taste in dress, parti- 
cularly ladies’ dress.” 

Lottie made another mental note, and thought what a 
useful person Miss Savage was, to give her so much valua- 
ble information ; these two facts were worth pounds to 
her. 

“ We had a most amusing conversation last night, I wish 
you had been here, I should like to know what your opinion 
is. Mr. Barrett started it by asking me if 1 thought it 
possible any woman could make such a mistake as to send 
her answer to a proposal of marriage to the wrong person,” 
said Miss Savage. 

“ He has read the letter, then,” thought Lottie. 

What did you say ? ” she asked. 

“ I said it was impossible to do it accidentally, no woman 
could be so careless ; my father said it was quite possible 
for some women to do it on purpose.” 

“ What did Mr. Barrett say ? ” asked Lottie, longing for 
the answer yet dreading it. 

“ He agreed with us both, no woman could do it acci- 
dentally, but some women do it on purpose ! ” 

“ For what purpose, though ? ” said Lottie innocently. 

“To let the third person know she had had an offer; 
vanity, spite, jealousy, many motives might prompt her. 
My father even went so far as to say there were women 
capable of sending the answer to the wrong person to a 
purely fictitious proposal, so great does he believe the 
vanity of some women to be.” 

“ Oh ! I hope Mr. Barrett has not such a bad opinion of 
women as that.” 

“Yes, I think he thought it just possible; he laughed 
and said something I could not quite catch about casting a 
new light upon the matter.” 

“Well; I do think men say horrid things of us poor 
women. I hope you stood up for us.” 

“Yes, I did ; but I could not help being amused. I 
can’t think what prompted George to introduce such a topic, 
and so I told him.” 

“ I know only too well,” thought Lottie, who went home 


LOTTIE'S SPHIMX. 


195 


longing to slay Mr. iSavage for having put such an idea, as 
that the offer existed only in her imagination, into Mr. 
Barrett’s head. 

“ He never would have thought of such a thing but for 
old Savage ; that man is my evil genius. Now he not only 
suspects 1 made the mistake on purpose but he doubts if I 
6ad the offer. There is only one thing to be done, he must 
see the original offer — seeing is believing. There are 
several objections to that course though ! the first and least 

is, it is not in existence. That’s a trifle; it will be in existence 
before I lay my head on my pillow to-night. As well for a 
sheep as a lamb ! How am I to show it to him, though, 
there’s the real difficulty ? Love will find out a way, I 
suppose. I can’t make any more mistakes in enclosing 
letters. That is a trick that can’t be performed twice in a 
lifetime ; it is like baptism, it can’t be repeated. I can’t 
offer to show it to him, that would be clumsy. No, he must 
see it accidentally. If I could only lose it and be certain 
he would find it ; play hide and seek with it ; but the worst 
is someone else might find it. I might borrow a book and 
return it with the letter inside, but then he might not find 
the letter for years. Well, the first thing to be done is to 
write the letter, perhaps between now and to-morrow I 
shall have hit upon a way of showing it to him. I will 
shut myself up in my room and concoct the letter after 
supper.” 

These were Lottie’s thoughts as she walked to The 
Cottage. 

That evening Lottie disappeared after supper, and shut- 
ting herself up in her room opened a little box and took 
from it a parcel of letters tied up with blue ribbon. She 
took the last dated envelope from this bundle, and sit- 
ting down set to work to compose a letter to put inside 

it. 

She was delighted with the result of her labors when 
she had finished. 

“ The writing is capital, not that that matters, since Mr. 
Barrett does not know his writing; the point was to disguise 
my own. I think the style will do, too,” she thought, as she 
read the following letter over before putting it into the 
envelope. 


196 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


Fort Regent, Jersey. 

“ My Darling Lottie : 

“ I can’t live without you any longer ; will you throw 
in your lot with mine ? Mine is not much of a lot to 
share, I know, and you know it as well as I ; but there, 
you can make my income go further for two of us than I 
can for one. You used to care a little for me, Lottie, in the 
dear old Jersey days, when we went shrimping by day, and 
waltzed all night with each other. 

“You have not forgotten them or me, have you, dar- 
ling? I’m not much of a hand at expressing my thoughts 
on paper, but only tell me to come to you and I’ll make 
you understand fast enough how I love you. 

“ I ought never to have let you go away without promis- 
ing to marry me, but I was waiting till I got my majority. I 
am bound togetdt next year, so we may as well be married, 
if you’ll have me as your partner for life. Will you, Lottie ? 

“ Your loving, 

“Jim.” 

“ That will do, I think. Just fancy Captain Bruce writ- 
ing it ! I can’t ; he is not a marrying man. If I were an 
heiress it would be another matter, but he is over head and 
and ears in debt now, and would be horrified at the very 
thought of marrying on his pay. Now I must go down and 
play cribbage with mother,” thought Lottie as she put the 
letter in her pocket. 

Mrs. Vaughan won every game that night, Lottie was too 
much exercised about this letter to attend to cribbage, and 
she wished Jack were at home to take her place. 

There was a letter from Jack the next morning which 
raised Lily’s spirits from zero to summer heat and pleased 
Lottie; it was characteristic of the writer. 

“Amberley Common. 

“ Dearest Lottie : 

“ You are a brick. Can I say more ? It was awfully 
plucky of you to put that fire out. Barrett ought to be 
eternally obliged to you. Go up top, Charlotte, like your 
brother Jack ; I passed the doctors with honors. I expeCt I 
have got through, the papers were not at all stiff ; next time 


LOTTIE'S SPHINX. 


197 


is the fag. I did not get back till Monday and Her Majesty 
missed me very much. I mean Miss Willoughby, not our 
Sovereign Lady Queen Victoria. 

“ We are on the top of a glorious common ; there are golf 
links close by. I made half a crown as caddy yesterday, 
it was a rare joke ; we had salmon for supper on the 
strength of it. I did it for a bet. Miss Willoughby and 
I are very fit, but Kitty is not at all well, and she is in 
wretched spirits ; she scarcely speaks all day ; we think 
she wants rousing, so I and an artist who is down here ara 
going to try and rouse her. Poor girl, it is an awful shame ; 
she was desperate spoons on Alec Willoughby and I believe 
they were engaged, but it is all off forever now. 

“ He was down here while I was in London and confided 
in his sister. He is in love with Lily and never really 
cared for Kitty. I believe his mother got up the match. 
Won’t she be wild with Lil when she hears it ? Meanwhile 
poor little Kitty is breaking her heart for him. What you 
girls can see in that fellow to rave about is one of those 
things Solomon could not have understood, but ‘ then they 
didn’t know everything down in Judee,’ did they, Lil ? 

“Did Solomon live in Judea by the way? Ask the 
curates, Charlotte, and tell me the Long and Short of it. 
We are going to Dean Forest next week, so direct to the 
Speech House, Forest of Dean. 

“ How is Sell ? Has he had any fights or killed any cats 
since I left ? “ Your loving brother, 

“ Jack Vaughan.” 

Lily was so lost in thought after reading this letter that 
Lottie found a difficulty in rousing her to the consideration 
of the best way of cooking sweet-breads, when the cook 
had to dress for dinner half an hour before they were 
served, and leave them to the tender mercies of a char- 
woman. 

These were the occasions in which Lottie’s talent rose to 
genius ; the dinner was cooked faultlessly; there was not a 
hitch ; and no one would have known Lottie had cooked 
and dished most of it herself, but she took care to tell Mr. 
Barrett she had done so, knowing it was a feat which would 
excite his admiration. 


LOTTIE^ S WOOING, 


198 

After dinner she begged Mr. Barrett to give them some 
music, and then told him she thought he played much 
better and with so much more feeling than Mr. Savage, at 
which Barrett was visibly pleased. 

“ Stringed instruments always seem to lift me up between 
earth and heaven when they are played as you play them. 
I am not musical in the sense you are ; I don’t understand 
music, but I love it. I should like to sit and listen to you 
the whole evening, but I suppose we must do something 
to amuse the others. Poor Mr. Short looks depressed. I 
think he sees it is hopeless with Lily, she snubs him so,” 
said Lottie. 

“ Long is in high feather this evening,” remarked Mr. 
Barrett. 

“ Because Lily has told him the engagement between 
Kitty Arundel and Alec Willoughby is off ; we heard the 
news from Jack this morning,” said Lottie, who was wonder- 
ing how to show her companion the letter she had in her 
pocket. Should she pretend it was Jack’s and hand it to 
him ? 

At this juncture Lily unconsciously came to her assist- 
ance. 

“ Lottie, Mr. Long wants to try thought reading, I tell 
him you and I are excellent mediums and he does not 
believe in it. We made Mr. Barrett do just what we willed 
the other evening, didn’t we, Mr. Barrett ? ” 

“ We will do it again. It is great fun. I am so glad 
you thought of it, Lily,” said Lottie with alacrity. 

‘Mt is quite an inspiration sent by Providence,” she 
thought. 

“ Will you go out first, Mr. Barrett ? ” said Lily. 

“ What am I to do ? ” 

“ Don’t you remember? You go out of the room and 
while you are gone we fix upon something you must do ; 
when you come back, then we blindfold you, and Lottie 
and I each take one of your hands and will you to do what 
we are thinking of. It may take a long time, but you are 
bound to do it,” said Lily. 

“Oh! I’ll go. It sounds a very nice game — you two 
holding my hands half the evening ; capital game, isn’t it. 
Long ? ” said Mr. Barrett. 


Z 0 TTIE' S • SPHINX. 


199 


Don’t be silly. Go outside till we are ready, please,” 
said Lottie, as they all laughed at Barrett’s remark. “ Now, 
what shall we make him do ?” she added. 

Various things all more or less ridiculous were suggested, 
but none of them met with Lottie’s approval. As last she 
pretended a sudden idea had occurred to her, and pulling 
the letter out of her pocket she put it into an envelope case 
which stood on a writing table made out of packing cases 
and covered with American cloth. 

“Now let us will that he goes to this table, takes that 
letter of Jack’s out of the envelope case and reads it,” she 
said. 

The others agreeing to this, Mr. Barrett was called in, 
blindfolded, and led about the room by the girls for about 
ten minutes in solemn silence. At first he went in every 
direction but that of the writing table ; at last he made for 
that. 

The excitement was now intense, as Lottie and Lily let 
go his hands and placed one of theirs on each of his 
shoulders. 

“ Now what am I to do ?” said Barrett. 

No one answered, and he felt about the table, finally 
opening the envelope case and taking out the letter amid 
the applause of the curates. 

“ Is that right ? ” said Barrett, pulling the handkerchief 
off his eyes. 

“ Quite right, but you have not finished yet ; you must 
not talk ; we are still willing you,” said Lottie. 

“ Umph ! I suppose I’d better read the letter; is that 
what you are willing me to do?” said Barrett, unfolding 
the letter. 

“ Hush ! You must not speak a word,” said Lottie, as 
Mr. Barrett ran his eyes down the pages of the letter amid 
universal applause. 

“ Quite right. You have done it ; you may give me 
back Jack’s letter now,” said Lottie, holding out her hand 
for it. 

“ Here it is, but it is from Jim, not from Jack,” said Mr. 
Barrett with a peculiar smile, as he handed her the letter. 

Lottie glanced at it, put her hand to her heart, feigned 
intense confusion, and exclaiming : 


200 


LOTTIE'S WOOING, 


“ Horror of horrors, it is not Jack’s letter ! ” rushed from 
the room and — locked up the wine in the sideboard. 

On her return to the drawing room, she avoided Mr. 
Barrett, but he hovered round her like a moth round 
a candle. 

“ Why are you so coy this evening ? 1 want to speak to 
you,” he said, at last getting her into a corner. 

“ Because I have made two such idiotic blunders lately. 
I feel ashamed of myself. What do you think of me ? ” 
said Lottie. 

“ I think you, as I always have' thought, the cleverest 
woman without exception I ever met in my life.” 

“ That is a very doubtful compliment, for men hate 
clever women,” said Lottie. 

“ There are clever women and clever women. I don’t 
mean that you are a blue stocking or that you talk tall talk 
which makes a man feel small ; that is the style of clever 
women men dislike.” 

“ How am I clever, then ? ” 

In many ways ; in cooking, in making half the furni- 
ture of this house for example. Clever in making your 
own dresses, too ; by the way, I want you to let me give 
you a dress.” 

“ I can’t do that,” said Lottie decidedly, coloring as she 
spoke. 

“ Why not ? In an ordinary way, of course, you could 
not ; I know enough of Mrs. Grundy to understand that ; 
but as your dress was burnt in saving my house even that 
particular old lady can’t object to me giving you a new 
one.” 

“ The one I burnt was not worth five shillings,” said 
Lottie. 

“ Never mind what it was worth. It is not a question of 
pounds, shillings, and pence ; you destroyed a dress in my 
service. I am bound to give you another ; it is my duty 
as well as my pleasure. I am as proud as you are ; I won’t 
be indebted to you for a dress. The next time I go to 
Manchester I shall buy you a new dress.” 

“ I would much rather you didn’t give me one,” said 
Lottie, looking demurely down at her pretty feet. 

“ Why ? ” 


LOTTIE'S SPHINX. 


201 


“ For several reasons.” 

“ Not one real one among them, I’ll be bound. Now 
look here, Miss Lottie Vaughan, I shall send you a dress in 
place of the one I owe you ; if you don’t accept and wear 
that dress I shall never speak to you again.” 

“ If you put it in that way I must, I suppose, accept it,” 
said Lottie, who could not help feeling it would have been 
better taste on his part not to have pressed his point. 

“ Another dismal failure,” thought Lottie that night 
when she got into bed after having reviewed the past day, 
not with the object of repenting of her sins, but for the 
purpose of seeing how far she had advanced in winning 
Mr. Barrett’s affections. He liked her she knew ; he 
admired her she also knew, but if she read her sphinx 
aright he had at present no more intention of marrying her 
than he had of marrying Lily. 

Did he believe that letter she had succeeded in showing 
him to be genuine ? 

Lottie could not tell ; she hoped he did ; she thought he 
did ; but even if he did believe it was a bona fide offer of 
marriage, and also that she had refused it for his sake, even 
then he showed no sign of wishing to marry her. 

The offer of the dress was in Lottie’s opinion a bad sign ; 
his open admiration of her cleverness was, coming from 
him, she thought, on the whole, a good one. Captain Bruce 
and Alec Willoughby would never have expressed their 
admiration so openly and bluntly ; they would never have 
wished to give her a dress in the place of the burnt one ; 
but then they came from a different class in society, so 
Lottie did not think she could judge of Mr. Barrett’s 
actions by comparing them with those of other gentlemen 
of her acquaintance. 

“ I must try another tack ; perhaps I shall make the har- 
bor next time,” thought Lottie. 

And then she fell asleep. 


202 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


CHAPTER XXI. 

THE ARTIST IS OFFENDED. 

Mr. Claude was in excellent spirits when he started in 
his bath chair for the common ; he was smoking as usual, 
and appeared to consider his humble chariot a great joke. 
It was a glorious summer evening ; there was not a cloud 
in the sky, which the setting sun was already tinging with 
green and gold on the western side, and to the north 
Venus, just then at her brightest, hung like a great silver 
globe in the paling sky. 

“ She is as calm and stately as my beautiful gypsy,” 
thought the artist, gazing at the planet as he was wheeled 
up the hill. On the top the great common rolled like a 
vast sea before him, only instead of boats, cattle were 
dotted about on it, and far away on the horizon, instead of 
white sails, pale blue hills stood out against the evening sky. 

The artist was not looking at the hills this evening; he 
scanned the common for a sight of his friend, but not a 
sign of Alec could he discover, only to his right he could 
distinguish the gypsy van, and he directed the men to go 
in that direction. 

“ I must see my gypsy to-night if possible ; I wonder if 
she will be penitent or if she will expect me to sue for 
pardon. I shan't dare to speak unless she does first. I 
wonder where old Alec is. There is someone sitting on the 
steps of the van ; it is not my gypsy, I can see that from 
here. It is Kitty, I believe ; I’ll go and have a little chat 
with her, perhaps my gypsy is inside the van,” thought the 
artist as the men wheeled him closer. 

Kitty did not look up till he was close to her, then a faint 
smile flitted over her pale little face, and she rose and 
inquired for his foot. 

“ It is getting on splendidly, thank you. I shan’t be able 
to walk just yet, but now I have unearthed this triumphal 
car, I mean to get out every day.” 

“Virginia is dreadfully sorry ; but it was more my fault 
than hers that she fired ; it was I who was frightened. I 
thought you were a burglar or brigand, and she only meant 


THE ARTIST IS OFFENDED. 


203 


to frighten you away ; the fog deceived her as to your dis- 
tance and she hit you. She has been so anxious to know 
how you were getting on.” 

Yes, I have not seen your brother for the last few days. 
I have been rather expecting him.” 

Jack is away for a few days ; he is coming back on 
Monday,” said Kitty. 

“ Is the queen away, too ? ” 

“ Oh, no ; she has only gone for a walk, she loves this 
great lonely common.” 

“ Do you love it, too ? ” 

“ I ? No. I hate it ; it frightens me. I shall always 
hate it,” said Kitty sadly. 

“ Shall you stay here long ? ” said Mr. Claude. 

I don’t know,” said Kitty, in a tone which plainly 
implied, “ I don’t care.” 

The artist felt sorry for the poor little, white, suffering 
face, with dark marks under the brown eyes, and the 
apathetic, listless manner of the girl, who seemed to have 
no life in her, distressed him. 

“ How she is changed since I last saw her,” he thought, 
as after bidding her good-night, the men wheeled him away 
across the common, making a little detour before returning 
to the top of the hill at the place they had started from. 

There was a large reservoir enclosed within brick walls 
on the brow of the hill ; and as the artist was being wheeled 
past it, he saw on his left hand side under some trees just 
across the road, two figures whom he recognized at once, 
even in the fading light, as Virginia and Alec. 

They were walking slowly in the direction of the van, 
which was not in view from where they were when the 
artist first caught sight of them. As soon as they came 
within range of it they stopped, and, to Mr. Claude’s disgust 
and anger, he saw the gypsy put her arms round Alec’s 
neck, kiss him hastily, and then run toward the van while 
Alec stood and watched her out of sight, and then turned 
round to go home, when to his surprise he saw Mr. Claude 
in the bath chair. 

He hastened across the grass to him exclaiming : 

Hallo, Lawrence, you have stolen a march on me ; 
where did you get that chair from ? ” 


204 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


“ I hired it,” said the artist coldly. 

Alec saw his friend was offended, and guessed at once he 
must have seen his parting with Virginia; however, he could 
not give any explanation before the men, so he walked by 
the side of the chair chatting away and feeling intensely 
amused at Claude’s evident ill humor. 

The artist was perfectly polite ; he answered all Alec’s 
questions in a freezing tone ; he offered no remarks of his 
own ; and, except when courtesy compelled him to speak, 
maintained a dignified silence ! On reaching their lodg- 
ings he declined Alec’s arm, and taking hold of one of the 
men, with his help limped into the house. 

He went straight to his bedroom, leaving Alec in solitary 
state in the sitting room, the bay window of which com- 
manded a lovely view of the valley which it was getting too 
dark to enjoy. Half an hour elapsed and the artist did not 
appear, and Alec sat chuckling to himself at the mistake he 
was evidently laboring under, and decided he must en- 
lighten him as to who Virginia was, whether she liked it or 
not. 

He burst into a roar of laughter, perfectly audible to the 
artist, as he thought over his parting with his sister, which 
had evidently so upset his friend’s equilibrium. Shortly 
after this, the landlady brought in a tray with whisky and 
soda-water, and Alec, having mixed a glass for Mr. Claude, 
said he would take it to him. 

He knocked at the bedroom door, and Claude thinking 
it was the landlady called out to him to come in ; Alec 
entered, shut the door quickly, put down the glass by the 
side of the artist, who was lying on a sofa by the window, 
and seating himself astride on a chair, went into a fit of 
laughter. 

“ What do you mean by this ? ” demanded the artist. 

Alec was laughing too much to answer intelligibly. 

“ Have the kindness to go out of my bedroom,” said 
Mr. Claude with great dignity. 

“ Dear old Lawrence,” laughed Alec. 

Confound it all, Willoughby, don’t add cant to treach- 
ery,” exclaimed Claude angrily. 

“ Dear old boy, it is all a mistake,” said Alec. 

“ A mistake, indeed I I should like to know what you 


THE ARTIST IS OFFENDED. 


205 


mean by a mistake. You are my guest, so I can’t tell you 
what I think of your conduct, but certainly the word mis- 
take does not cover it,” said the artist. 

“ Yes, it does ; who do you think Virginia is.” 

“ Willoughby, don’t go too far, if you please, or I may 
lose my temper and forget myself. Kindly avoid all men- 
tion of that lady’s name in my presence, and the sooner we 
bring this interview to a close, the better,” said the artist, 
removing his pipe and speaking in a tone of suppressed 
fury. 

“ Lawrence, you old duffer, your gypsy is my only 
sister.” 

Claude dropped the pipe he was smoking on to the floor 
in his amazement, breaking it as he did so. 

“What ! Hail and thunder ! Am I dreaming or am I 
in my sober senses ? What did I understand you to say, 
Willoughby ? ” he exclaimed. 

“ Virginia Willoughby, alias your gypsy, is my own and 
only sister,” said Alec. 

“ Your sister ? My gypsy your sister ? ” 

“ My sister, I repeat, who, by some woman's wit beyond 
my feeble powers of comprehension, has persuaded my 
mother to allow her and Kitty Arundel, my father’s ward, 
to travel about in that van, under the care of Sanders, 
Kitty’s maid, and Jack Vaughan, a young fellow whose 
people live in our neighborhood, who is devoted to Vi and 
whom you have far more cause to be jealous of than of 
me,” said Alec. 

“ Pshaw ! Vaughan is only a boy. But that does not 
hinder me from having been a consummate ass. I see it all 
now. I beg your pardon, Willoughby, for suspecting you 
of stealing a march on me.” 

“ My dear fellow, don’t mention it.” 

“ Your sister ! And Kitty is the heiress ! and Sanders, 
whose conversation the other morning I could not help 
hearing, is her nurse ! I see now,” said the artist dreamily. 

“ Yes. Virginia begged me to keep her secret ; for some 
occult reason, she wants to forget she is Miss Willoughby, 
a fact which, as a rule, she is only too proud to remember ; 
now it suits her to pose as a gypsy, to travel incognito, and 
to humor her I didn’t enlighten you,” 


2o6 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


“ Did you tell her who lam?” said Mr. Claude. 

“ No ; they believe you are a poor struggling artist ; and 
the joke of it is, Virginia is interested in you, though as a 
rule she keeps all admirers at arm’s length ; so keep up the 
delusion she is laboring under as long as you can.” 

Trust me for that,” said Claude. 

“ Now you know so much, you may as well know the 
rest. I told you when I came I was in a scrape. I’ll make 
a clean breast of it all now ; the position has improved in 
some ways since I came down here,” said Alec, who then 
proceeded to give his friend an account of his engagement 
to Kitty, his subsequent meeting with Lily, his falling in 
love with her, in fact the whole story of his entanglement. 

“ Phew ! I see. The gypsy boy’s sister is poor Miss 
Kitty’s rival,” said the artist. 

“Yes, so under the circumstances the best thing I can 
do is to clear out of here before he comes back ; until I have 
made my peace with Lily, if I ever do make peace with her, 
I would rather not come in contact with Jack. He is a fine 
young fellow and might feel it his duty to speak his mind 
to me ; and I don’t wish to have a row with him for Vir- 
ginia’s sake, if for no other reason. Besides which, it w^on’t 
do for me to be hanging about here within reach of Kitty ; 
my father would most certainly stop my allowance on the 
spot, if he knew it,” said Alec. 

“ Didn’t you know they were here before you came to me, 
then ? ” 

“ No, I never was so astonished in my life as when I met 
Vi on the common. My mother told me the girls were 
gone on a driving-tour, but she never alluded to the van ; 
it will forever be a mystery to me, how they got her to con- 
sent to it. Look here, Lawrence, I don’t half like that van 
business ; I wish you would follow them up and look after 
them, will you ? ” 

“ With all the pleasure in life, my dear boy, if they will 
only let me do so.” 

“ I will give Vi a hint, I shall see her to-morrow in 
propria persona in church ; can’t you come, too, in your 
chair and you’ll see her also ? ” 

“ No, I don’t want her to know you have told me who 
she is ; I’ll let her believe I am still mystified.” 


THE ARTIST IS OFFENDED. 


^07 

They sat up very late discussing all this, and on Sunday 
Alec saw Virginia and told her to encourage Mr. Claude to 
take the same route as they were going, so that they might 
have a friend to fall back upon in case of any difficulty. 

On Monday morning Alec left and the artist had himself 
wheeled on to the common in the hope of coming across 
Miss Willoughby. It was a very hot day and she and Kitty 
were sitting under some trees close to the van when he first 
caught sight of them. Virginia was reading “ Much Ado 
about Nothing” aloud, and Kitty was lying down listening 
without hearing a word and making much ado about Alec, 
when the artist dismissed the men, who brought him on the 
common, and accosted the girls. 

Good-morning, fair gypsies, will it please you to tell 
my fortune this morning ?” 

“ I am so glad to see you out again,” said Virginia, rising 
and coming toward him, with a look of what the artist 
inwardly called divine pity in her eyes. 

“Yes, thank you, I am nearly well ; it is a mere scratch, 
nothing to speak of,” said the artist, making light of his 
wound, 

“ It is very good of you to say so, but you don’t know 
what pain that wound has given me. I scarcely dare think 
what the consequences might have been had I aimed 
higher ; it has cost me more than one sleepless night.” 

“ Don’t let it cost you another uneasy moment ; it is 
really of no consequence. I shall be able to walk again 
next week, and then, if you’ll let me, we can make some 
excursions.” 

“We can, now ; Jack comes back to-night, he will pull you 
about the common in that chair ; I can help, I am very 
strong,” said Virginia, while the faintest shadow of a smile 
might have been seen to flit across Kitty’s face at this pro- 
posal. 

“ I won’t submit to that ; if you’ll let me I’ll come up 
here and sit under these trees for part of the day,” said 
Claude. 

The conversation then drifted on to art and poetry, Kitty 
leaving Virginia and the artist to do all the talking, 
scarcely once opening her lips the whole morning, which 
slipped away all too quickly to please the others. 


LOTTIE'S WOOlMd. 


Jack returned about four that afternoon, and was so 
struck with the alteration in Kitty, that he could not help 
asking Miss Willoughby what was the matter with her, as 
he and she went off for a stroll after supper. 

Virginia thought she had better tell him exactly what 
had happened in his absence, so she did, making the best 
she could of Alec’s conduct. 

“ Has she been like this long? ” said Jack. 

“ Ever since I told her the truth. She does not cry — 
she would be much better if she did — she only lies and 
broods all day and night over it ; poor little thing, I wish 
she would rouse herself.” 

“ I’ll see what I can do to rouse her. I suppose the 
artist knows who we are, now ? ” 

“ No, I don’t think he does ; he knows we are not gypsies 
though, Alec says.” 

“ It seems there is nothing but bad news. I found 
a letter telling me my eldest sister has had a narrow escape 
of being burnt to death ; and mother says Lily looks 
wretchedly ill, and she does not know what is the matter 
with her.” 

“ Do you think she cares for Alec ?” asked Vi anxiously. 

“ I did think so, but where’s the use in their caring for 
each other ? Lily has not a penny and they can’t live on 
his pay, even if they waited years till he got his company. 
By the way, I did hear one piece of good news in London 
— good for us, I mean ; a cousin of mine, the only child of 
our rich uncle, has just married an actress.” 

“ Do you call that good news ? I should call it rather 
bad,” said Virginia. 

“ It may be good for us, we are the next of kin to him ; 
my uncle is as proud as Lucifer, the estate is not entailed, 
and I believe he will now cut off his son, who was always 
a ne’er-do-weel. Lottie always wished and thought he 
would do something of this kind, and now he has done it, 
I must write and tell her. It will cheer Charlotte’s droop- 
ing spirits ; that fire seems to have taken it out of her.” 

“ Tell me about the fire,” said Vi. 

Jack told her all he knew, and then asked when she pro- 
posed leaving the common, and where they were to go to 
next. 


THE ARTIST IS OFFENDED. 269 

“To Dean Forest; it will be cool and shady there; 
Kitty has taken a violent dislike to this common, and it is 
so hot down in the valleys ; we must move soon, I suppose, 
on Kitty’s account.” 

“ Well, we can start to-morrow, if you like ; our steed 
has had a good rest.” 

“ I wonder when our friend, the artist, will be well 
enough to travel,” said Virginia in a hesitating tone. 

“ Here he comes ; shall I ask him ? ” said Jack. 

“ No, pray don’t ask him,” said Virginia blushing, as the 
artist in his bath chair came toward them. 

“ All right. I’ll find out without asking,” said Jack. 

Mr. Claude’s plans seemed very unformed until he learnt 
the gypsies’ movements, and then he discovered he meant 
to go to Dean Forest next, as soon as he could travel so 
far. 

“ It will take us two or three days to get there in the 
van,” said Virginia. 

“ Well, if you start two days before I do, I shall still 
arrive first ; it is only a few hours by rail. Where do you 
mean to encamp ? ” 

“ Oh, in the forest, but near an hotel there is there. 
Kitty is so nervous at night, we shall be obliged to sleep in 
the hotel, and lock the van up at night ; I don’t think it 
would do for you to sleep alone in it. Jack.” 

“ Let me sleep with him ; I should like it immensely, 
and we can take the van as far as you like into the forest 
then,” said Mr. Claude. 

“ Are you sure you would like it ? ” said Virginia. 

“ Certain ; it will save me the expense of lodgings, and 
that is a consideration to a poor, struggling artist,” said 
Mr. Claude. 

“ That is settled, then. Now the next thing to be done is 
to rouse Kitty ; it will never do to let her go on moping 
like this. I must see what I can do to amuse her. I can 
generally find some way of cheering up my sisters when 
they are down on their luck,” said Jack. 

“ I wish you could cheer up Kitty,” said Virginia, but 
Kitty refused to be cheered up. 


2lO 


LOTTIE* S WOOING. 


CHAPTER XXII. 

THE ABDUCTION. 

As the week wore on, Kitty got rather worse, and at last 
Virginia decided they should start on Friday morning for 
the forest ; travel Friday and Saturday, rest on Sunday, and 
travel on Sunday night, as she was very anxious to have 
one nocturnal journey. 

The artist’s foot was better, and his doctor gave him 
leave to travel on the Monday, provided he did not attempt 
to stand or use his wounded leg. 

Kitty was more depressed than ever on Thursday. Her 
appetite was wretched, she scarcely spoke all day, and none 
of Jack’s efforts at amusing her produced more than a 
shadow of a smile, and Sanders and Virginia agreed if she 
did not soon get better, the tour must be given up. 

“Where am I to go then ? ” thought Virginia, as she lay 
in her hammock on Thursday night. “ I can’t go home; I 
know no friends likely to invite me; I can’t go into lodgings 
alone; what am I to do? I can’t betray Alec, father would 
be angrier than ever if he knew it was Lily Vaughan he 
came to see that day and not Kitty. Oh, dear ! life is very 
difficult. I have been so happy on this tour, I forgot all 
about my trouble ; but of course I can’t spend my life in 
this van. I have a great mind to take the artist into my 
confidence, he is a friend of Alec’s ; I could do it without 
telling him who I am, and perhaps he may know of some 
family in which I could board for a time. It can’t be for 
long. Alec is sure to find out that the Bhap and I have 
quarreled, some day, and he will not let me suffer for him.” 

“ Miss Virginia, have you seen the key to the van ? ” burst 
in Sanders at this juncture ; she had been fidgeting about 
for the last ten minutes. 

“ No ; Mr. Jack must have taken it, he and I had it this 
evening ; never mind, bar the door, we are quite safe,” said 
Virginia from her hammock. 

Sanders grumbled, but took this advice, and by twelve 
o’clock they were all three fast asleep. Virginia’s hammock 
was slung near the door and she had not been asleep long 


THE ABDUCTIOH. 


211 


when she was awakened by a clicking noise, as though some- 
one had turned the key in the door ; she felt sure this had 
happened, but she was too sleepy to get up and see, or to 
care very much about it, and turning over she fell asleep 
again. 

Shortly after she was again awakened ; this time by a 
cry from Kitty. 

“ Vi, Vi, Vi ! the van is moving ! ” 

“ Nonsense, Kitty, impossible ! ’’exclaimed Virginia, roll- 
ing out of her hammock, but no sooner had her feet touched 
the floor than she added, almost in the same breath, 
“ Why, so it is, what on earth is the matter, has it got loose 
or what ? Sanders, Sanders, wake up, the van is moving.” 

Virginia hurried into her dressing gown as she spoke, 
and unbarring the door of the van was going to open it to 
see what was the matter, when to her alarm she found it 
was locked. 

“ The door is locked. What are we to do, Sanders ? We 
are locked in,” she exclaimed. 

“ Open the window, and see what has happened ; we are 
moving quicker. We are on the road, now,” said Sanders, as 
the van-wheels left the grass, and began to go quicker than 
they had ever traveled since Virginia had known them. 

Vi opened a window on the right hand side of the van, and 
looked out, while Sanders, who was struggling into some 
clothes, was also endeavoring to reassure Kitty, who was 
half fainting with terror in her hammock. 

“ Heavens ! there are two horses in the van. There is one 
man if not more on the box, and he is driving tandem,” ex- 
claimed Virginia, putting her head back into the van. 

“ Stop ! Stop this moment. Do you hear what I say, 
you scoundrel, you up there. Stop directly,” exclaimed San- 
ders, putting her head out of the window, and yelling 
frantically. 

All the answer she obtained was, the driver whipped the 
leader, and the van went quicker than ever, jolting its 
inmates frightfully and making a tremendous noise. 

Open the other window. Miss Vi, and see if there is any 
one besides the scamp who is driving at this wicked pace on 
the box,” said Sanders, who was now trying to force the 
door open. 


LOTTIE'S WOOInO. 


± 1 ^ 

Virginia opened the left hand window, and leant out, but 
she could not see anyone, only a whiff of tobacco coming 
from this side and the sound of voices confirmed her sus- 
picions that their captors were at least two in number. 

“ There are two men certainly,” she said. 

“ O Vi, what shall we do. What shall we do ? I knew 
there were brigands in this dreadful place, and now they 
have carried us off,” sobbed Kitty. 

“ Brigands, indeed ! It is some young men doing it for 
a lark. Some of these golf-players, perhaps. I have seen 
them looking harder than they need, at Miss Vi, often,” said 
Sanders angrily. 

“ O Vi, put your head out and tell them to stop, they 
will pay more attention to you than to Sanders perhaps. 
Oh ! we shall be upset directly,” said Kitty, who was shak- 
ing with terror. 

“ Stop directly, please. If this is a joke you have gone 
far enough. Stop, please,” exclaimed Virginia ; not one 
word of reply could she elicit, only she fancied she heard 
a suppressed laugh. 

“ It is a joke, I believe, but a disgraceful one. We are 
now going down this steep hill ; the wretches, they will jolt 
us to pieces. I 'shall get into my hammock again till we 
reach the bottom,” said Virginia, who was more annoyed 
than frightened. 

The driver now put on the brake, whipped up his horses, 
and rattled down the long steep hill at a breakneck pace ; 
while Sanders was yelling out of the window the whole 
time, abusing the occupants of the box in fine style. 

Kitty sat on Sanders' bed sobbing with terror, while Vir- 
ginia lay in her hammock, and, as the absurdity of their 
position forced itself upon her, she burst into peals of 
laughter. 

“ Stop, I say, stop. When once you do stop, my fine 
gentlemen. I’ll summons you for this. It is a case of abduc- 
tion. You’ll get ten years for this, carrying off two young 
ladies, and a respectable unmarried woman in the dead of 
the night, you trumpery rascals,” exclaimed Sanders. 

At the work “ abduction ” guffaws from the box were 
plainly audible and Virginia shrieked with laughter, exclaim- 
ing feebly : 


TtJE A^El/CT/OAt. 




Don’t, Sanders, you’ll be the death of me.” 

“ O Vi, how can you laugh ? We shall all be murdered 
even if the van is not upset, I am sure we shall. Oh ! how 
I wish we had never, never come here to be carried off by 
brigands or robbers, or wicked cruel men ; oh ! how it 
jolts,” cried Kitty. 

“ Get into your hammock, you don’t feel the jolting in 
the least there,” said Virginia. 

“ Oh, we shall be upset directly ; the idea of driving tan- 
dem down this dreadful hill ; oh, how wicked, how cruel, 
how shameful it is,” sobbed Kitty, as she clambered into her 
hammock. 

“ That is the only fear, that we should be upset ; I am not 
afraid of anything else ; there are three of us ; besides I 
believe Sanders is right, and it is some gentlemen doing it 
for a joke,” said Virginia. 

“ How can you take it so quietly, Vi ? It is dreadful, I 
think. Oh ! how thankful I am we are at the bottom of the 
hill at last. I’ll call out to them now ; you are only making 
them angry, Sanders, do be quiet,” said Kitty, getting up 
and putting her head out of the window. 

“ Oh ! do stop, please. We are not real gypsies. Where 
are you taking us to ? ” she cried in imploring accents. 

“ I shall dress ; it won’t be pleasant to be found in one’s 
dressing gown, when it finally pleases these gentlemen to 
stop,” said Virginia. 

“ Where are they taking us, Sanders ? ” said Kitty, sitting 
down and wringing her white hands in distress, at finding 
her efforts were of no more use than Virginia’s and Sanders’ 
had been. 

“ Toward Stroud. When we get into the town I’ll shriek 
and attract the attention of anyone we meet ; perhaps we 
shall come across a policeman ; you watch at one window, 
Miss Vi, and I’ll look out at the other ; we are sure to meet 
someone in the town, late as it is,” said Sanders, who by 
this time had dressed herself, and Kitty began to follow her 
example. 

As they entered the town, Sanders and Virginia went to 
the windows, in the hope of attracting the attention of some 
belated passenger, or better still, of the police, but the 
driver seemed to be aware of their intention, and whipping 


2I4 


LOTTIE'S tVOO/ATC^. 


up his horses rattled through the town at full speed, so that 
the wild shrieks and screams which Sanders uttered from 
time to time had no visible effect, though they probably 
disturbed the sleeping inhabitants. 

“ The impudent wretches, where are they taking us ? 
Oh ! if I could break the door open, we would jump out, 
and leave them to take the van to Jericho,” said Sanders, 
rattling and pulling the door in a fury. 

‘‘ Oh ! to be driven at this pace, no one knows whither, is 
bad enough, but I dread their stopping still more ; we are 
like mice in a trap, they may murder us when they do 
stop,” said Kitty. 

“ There is no telling what they mayn’t do, after carrying 
us off in the dead of the night, the villains. You’ll get ten 
years’ penal servitude for this, ‘my fine masters, whoever 
you are,” cried Sanders putting her head out of the van to 
deliver the last remark. 

“ They must have good horses to keep up this pace; they 
are bound to stop soon to bait them. I shall resign myself 
to my fate ; we can’t go on for ever, they must stop soon,” 
said Virginia getting into her hammock again. 

“ I can’t lie down, I am too frightened ; besides I want to 
see where we are going,” said Kitty. 

They passed through several villages, and then through 
a small town, on the outskirts of which the van slackened 
speed and finally drew up. 

“ We have stopped at last ; now what is going to happen, 
I wonder? ” said Miss Willoughby jumping up and looking 
out of the window. 

It was very dark, the darkest part of a midsummer night, 
just before the first streaks of dawn lightened the eastern sky, 
and she could with difficulty make out what was going on. 

“ They have taken out the horses and are leading them 
away ; at least there seems to be only one man, after all,” 
said Virginia. 

“ Now, you wretches, open this door this moment. Do 
you hear ? Open it, and tell us where we are, or it will be 
the worse for you,” shouted Sanders, but there was no 
reply ; the retreating horses’ hoofs alone broke the silence 
of the night. 

“ Well, I never ! To bring us all these miles and leave 


THE ABDUCTION. 


215 


US in the middle of the road for one of those timber carts, 
which always travel at night, to run into ! It is barbarous,” 
said Sanders. 

“ We had better light the lamp as a signal, and as soon 
as it is light force the door and go to the nearest house for 
help,” said Virginia, who began to feel very uneasy. 

“ Oh, I am so glad we have stopped and that the men 
have gone away,” said Kitty, who was more afraid of their 
captors than of being run into by a timber wagon. 

Sanders lighted a lamp and then proceeded to make 
some chocolate, for they were all rather exhausted, while 
Virginia kept looking out of the window listening. 

Presently she heard the sound of approaching horses’ 
feet and the clanking of harness. 

“ I believe they have come back with fresh horses ; yes, 
they have, and they are putting them in tandem again ; at 
least the driver is ; I can only see one man,” reported 
Virginia. 

Sanders flew to the other window, and stormed, and 
scolded, and threatened, but all in vain ; their captors took 
no notice ; the driver mounted the box, whipped up his 
horses, and off they went again faster than ever. 

“ There are two men ; they are talking ; one remained 
on the box while the other changed the horses. It is 
evidently a planned thing, or they could not have got fresh 
horses in the middle of the night. Sanders, I don’t like it 
at all ; it is really no joke,” said Virginia. 

“ Joke ? no, it is serious enough, but don’t you be afraid, 
Miss Willoughby ; load that pistol of yours, and I’ll have 
the poker red-hot, and they’ll have to pass over my dead 
body before they touch a hair of your heads,” said Sanders. 

They traveled at a more uniform pace with the fresh 
horses, and apparently over flatter country ; the day 
dawned, the strengthening light grew fuller and broader as 
the sun rose, and they saw they were in flatter country, 
with green pastures inclosed in the loosely made, mortarless 
stone walls of Gloucestershire, while the cottages and old 
houses were roofed with the pretty gray stone peculiar to 
the country. 

From time to time Sanders renewed her stormy appeals, 
and occasionally Kitty implored their captors to stop, till at 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


2 i6 

last, about six o’clock, the van stopped on a grassy spot 
near a town ; a man jumped from the box, and putting a 
key into the door of the van unlocked and opened it just as 
Kitty fell back fainting behind Sanders, who, with Virginia’s 
pistol in one hand and the red-hot poker in the other, stood 
ready to resist the invaders and defend her young mis- 
tresses. 

Her valor was greater than the occasfon required, for 
when the door opened it disclosed the laughing face of — 
Jack Vaughan. 

“ Mr. Vaughan ! where in the world have you sprung 
from, sir ? ” exclaimed the astonished Sanders, dropping 
her weapons. 

“ Jack ! You don’t mean to say it is you ? why, what 
geese we have been,” said Virginia, as Jack tumbled into 
the van in a fit of laughter. 

“ I do. Yes, Sanders, I am your abductor, or at least 
one of them. I nearly rolled off the box when you talked 
about the abduction,” said Jack when he could control his 
laughter sufficiently to speak. 

Who else was with you ? ” asked Virginia. 

‘‘ Our friend, the artist.” 

“ Well, all I can say is you might both be ashamed of 
yourselves ; you have frightened my poor lamb into a fit,” 
said Sanders, proceeding to administer restoratives to 
Kitty. 

“ Oh, I say, Sanders, I hope we have not. We did it for 
Kitty’s sake. I thought she wanted rousing so I got Mr. 
Claude to arrange this little trip. I hoped it would have 
pleased all parties. Her majesty wished to travel by night ; 
she has done so. We all wished to travel faster ; we have 
done so. We all wanted to rouse Kitty ; we have done 
so.” 

“ Oh ! mighty kind you have been, no doubt, jolting our 
bodies and souls asunder all through the livelong night,” 
said Sanders indignantly. 

“ I say, Claude, can you manage to get off your perch ? 
They are making it rather warm for me in here, what with 
pokers for swords and pistols for their artillery,” cried 
Jack, putting his head out of the window to speak to the 
artist, 


THE ABDUCTION. 


217 


“ No, thanks, I have no desire to make a target of myself. 
I’ll wait till Sanders has cooled down,” said Mr. Claude. 

“ Kitty is coming round, Sanders ; Mr. Vaughan and I 
will go outside till she has recovered. She wants plenty of 
air,” said Virginia as Kitty began to revive, while she and 
Jack got out of the van and went round to the box, where 
the artist was sitting holding the reins. 

“ Good-morning, am I in very deep disgrace ? ” said Mr. 
Claude, taking off his hat to Virginia. 

“ Not with me. I really enjoyed it. Once or twice it 
occurred to me that it might be you and Jack doing it for 
a joke, but I thought your foot was not well enough,” said 
Virginia, looking shyly up at the artist as she stood by the 
van, her beautiful head uncovered, except for its crown of 
raven plaits. 

“ Oh, yes ! it is all right now, I can walk if I like, it is 
quite healed. How did you like my pace last night ? ” 

“ Were you our Jehu ?” said Virginia in surprise. 

“ Yes ; I knew you had hammocks or I would have been 
more merciful.” 

“ Kitty was terrified, but I enjoyed it. She was so afraid 
we should be upset.” 

“ No fear of that, Mr. Claude is a first-rate whip,” said 
Jack, who was taking off the leader and preparing to mount 
him. 

“ Where are we?” said Virginia, looking round at the 
unfamiliar country, the thick woods and the red soil. 

“ In the forest. I was going to propose we should go 
on to Speech House, there you and Miss Kitty can engage 
rooms, and we can all breakfast together, if you’ll allow 
your coachman to join you ; afterward we can camp and 
picnic in the forest, you ladies returning to the hotel to 
sleep, while Jack and I occupy the van,” said Mr. Claude. 

Virginia fell in with this proposal, and was secretly much 
amused at the way irl which the artist was taking care of 
them, and making plans which he evidently expected them 
to fall into. 

“ How far is this hotel from here ? ” 

“ About three or four miles. Won’t you put on your hat 
and traveling cloak and get upon the box?” said Mr. 
Claude ; by which remark Virginia concluded he did not 


2i8 


LOTTIES WOOING. 


altogether approve of her disguising herself, and as she 
now noticed Jack was in his ordinary clothes, she took the 
hint and went inside for her hat and cloak. 


CHAPTER XXIII. 

LOTTIE PRACTICES SELF-EXAMINATION. 

Lottie was not well ; she was not in her usual spirits, 
she looked worried, she had no appetite ; she was restless 
at night and irritable by day. 

When questioned about her ill health, she had a host of 
reasons to account for it ; she missed Jack ; she was wor- 
ried about money ; she had run down from the low diet 
they had been on ; Lily’s affair with Alec had distressed 
her ; the shock of catching fire had shaken her nerves ; all 
these excuses she gave, but the real cause of her indispo- 
sition, as she knew well enough, was she was in love with 
Mr. Barrett. 

Oh ! that I should live to be such a fool as to care for 
a good, stolid, sterling, self-made man like George Barrett ; 
he is good-looking it is true and he is as good as gold ; in 
fact he is worthy, very worthy ; worthy just expresses him, 
and oh ! dear, how I used to hate a worthy man ! If it 
had not been for that fire I might not have found out that 
I cared for him ; but I know it to my cost now, more’s the 
pity. It is not the house and it is not the money, it is not 
even the husband that I want to win, it is the man, good, 
honest, sterling, sphinxlike, worthy George Barrett. I 
want and I must get him by hook or by crook.” 

Lottie’s meditations had reached this point when she 
was interrupted by Lily. 

Lottie, what are you doing up here alone shut up in 
your bedroom ? ” 

“ My dear child, I am engaged in self-examination,” said 
Lottie solemnly. 

“ Lottie ! You don’t mean to say you have become 
religious since that fire ? ” exclaimed Lily, 

“ Well, Lil, I am not sure. I am changed certainly, 
whether I am converted or not I can’t say. Don’t be a 


LOTTIE PEA C TICES SELF-EXAMINATION, 219 


goose, child; it is my body, not my soul, I have been examin- 
ing ; listen and I’ll confess the result to you. You shall be 
my judge, if I have deceived myself in any way, please cor- 
rect me, all I want to do is to be true to myself.” 

“ Oh ! I am glad you have not ‘ got religion,’ as the 
Salvationists say. Now begin, what am I to pass sentence 
on ? ” 

“ On me. We’ll take my hair first ; that is one of my 
strongest points ; is it as thick and long as ever, has it 
begun to fade ever so little yet ? ” said Lottie anxiously. 

“ Not in the least.” 

You are sure, it still has that bright golden shade on it ? ” 

“ Yes ; you know it has, Lottie.” 

“ Listen, Lil. It is a solemn secret, but I pulled two 
gray hairs out the last time I washed it. I am thankful it . 
is not losing color, faded hair is so ugly. Now for my 
complexion. I confess with sorrow, the red runs into the 
white more than it ought, especially when I get hot ; and 
my shoulders get red, but as long as square bodies are the 
fashion, that does not matter ; am I getting, I won’t say 
yellow, but too creamy where I ought to be white ? ” 

“ No, Lottie ; your complexion is as fresh as ever.” 

Not quite. Well, now, do the lines show on my fore- 
head when I am tired or worried ? Be very strict here, 
Lil.” 

“ Only a little when you are doing accounts, there is not 
the ghost of a line at other times.” 

“ Oh yes, there is ; they are there but they don’t show. 
Now as to my figure ; if anything, that has improved since 
I was your age ; my waist is smaller and I have filled out. 

I think my figure will do. Now come my feet, and I grieve 
to say these abominable hills make me take half a size larger 
in walking shoes.” 

“So do I in this country, everyone does.” 

“ To sum up, I am not the style to fade and look washed 
out ; my terror is lest I should get too red and fat. Honestly, 
Lil, am I getting coarse or pass^el ” 

“ No, Lottie, what nonsense you are talking.” 

“ My dear child, it is such a solemn subject. Lil, we are 
so hard up, that if you or I don’t marry soon, I don’t know 
what will become of us.” 


220 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


“ I shall never marry, never,” said Lily. 

“Yes, you will. You’ll marry that goose Alec Wil- 
loughby some day. You will have to forgive him, now he 
has broken it off with Miss Arundel. There’s the door- 
bell; tell James to say not at home, unless it is Mr. Barrett 
or Miss Savage.” 

Lily ran downstairs to give this order, and the next 
minute was heard calling Lottie to come down directly, as 
there was a parcel for her from Mr. Barrett. Lottie needed 
no second bidding. 

“ It is the dress he will give me. There is one thing I 
mean to do before I accept it, and that is go and consult 
Miss Savage and put myself in the right,” said Lottie un- 
tying the string. 

“What do you mean, Lottie? ” asked Mrs. Vaughan. 

“ I mean to get her to advise me to accept it, and to tell 
Mrs. Grundy in general, and Mrs. Willoughby in particular, 
why he is giving it to me.” 

“ Never mind Mrs. Grundy, open the parcel. It is silk, I 
believe,” said Lily. 

“ I hope it is a color that will light up well, I can’t wear 
a silk dress in the country in the daytime,” said Lottie, 
proceeding to unwrap the parcel and displaying as she did 
so a bright blue brocaded silk. 

Lottie sunk on to the nearest chair a picture of despair. 

“ Some water, Lil, quick ! Where are my smelling-salts? 
Is the man stark staring mad ! Or is it a grim and ghastly 
joke ? Did you ever in all your life behold such an impos- 
sible color ? Oh ! the crudeness of it, Lil, the crudeness 
of it.” 

“ I never saw a lovelier dress, Lottie. Why, it would 
stand alone,” said Mrs. Vaughan fingering it. 

“ I wish it would. To think I shall have to stand inside 
such an appalling dress as that is enough to break my heart. 
Imagine Lottie arrayed in such a garb. Isn’t it madden- 
ing ? I could cry, I really could,” said Lottie. 

“ Here’s a note inclosed, Lottie. Read it and see if it 
throws any light upon it.” 

“ Light, indeed. It is shade it wants thrown on it, not 
light. He must have done it in joke, he prides himself on 
his taste in ladies’ dress. Where’s his letter ? O Lil ! 


LOTTIE PRACTICES SELF-EXAMINATION. 221 


do get me some sal volatile ; he thinks it will go so well 
with my buttercup hat ; he actually expects me to wear it 
out of doors as a day-dress. Why, I would die first ; I really 
would.” 

“ Dye the dress, Lottie, that’s the only thing I can 
suggest.” 

“ Dye a lovely dress like that ? I only wish I weren’t a 
poor lonely widow, I should love to wear it. You can’t be' 
well, Lottie, or you would never put yourself out about a 
beautiful dress like that,” said Mrs. Vaughan, as Lottie, a 
prey to many emotions, burst into a fit of tears. 

“ Beautiful, mother ! Why, it is enough to make any 
girl ill to have to wear a dress that color,” said Lily sym- 
pathetically. 

“ O Lil ! bless you for that. It will make me ill, it 
has made me ill, it shall make me very very ill. I will be 
ill — as soon as ever I have made it into a tea-gown ; it is 
fit for nothing else, and then I’ll receive Mr. Barrett in it. 
If you’ll help me to make it, Lil, you shall have my old one,” 
said Lottie, recovering her spirits at this idea. 

There were no signs of illness the next day, during which 
she and Lily worked hard at the tea-gown, but on the fol- 
lowing morning Lottie ordered her breakfast to be sent up 
to her and announced her intention of remaining in bed all 
day and living on gruel. 

The next day she slept till late, having been awake a 
great part of the night ; she was tired of gruel and changed 
her diet to bread and milk ; she was tired of bed also, so 
in the evening she got up and sat by the window looking 
pale and delicate. 

“ Lottie, if you are not better to-morrow, I shall send for 
the doctor. I never knew you spend a day in bed since 
you had the measles,” said Mrs. Vaughan. 

“ This is worse than the measles, much worse, mother ; 
but if you send for a doctor he won’t do me any good, I 
know. Leave me to nature, I shall get well in time,” said 
Lottie, who looked pale and was feeling weak from want of 
proper food. 

The next morning she was no better ; she could not 
touch gruel and would not look at solid food ; she was tired 
of bread and milk and scorned beef-tea ; the only thing 


222 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


she could be persuaded to take was a cup of tea and some 
dry toast ; which state of affairs so alarmed Mrs. Vaugham 
that she sent for the doctor. 

The doctor came and was puzzled ; Lottie certainly was 
not well, her pulse was weak and she was below par, but he 
could not detect any cause for her condition. 

“ She seems to have something on her mind. Is she in 
any trouble ? ” he asked Mrs. Vaughan. 

“ Not that I know of.” 

“ Well, ril send her a tonic ; don’t let her lie there and 
mope. Young ladies have these attacks sometimes ; it is my 
private opinion, Mrs. Vaughan, that she is in love. If she 
is, medicine won’t do her any good,” said the doctor. 

“ What did Dr. Wray say of me, mother ? ” asked Lottie, 
when the doctor was gone ; and Mrs. Vaughan, being a 
simple soul, repeated word for word what the doctor had 
said. 

“ He is a clever man is Dr. Wray, I have a great respect 
for him, and now, look here, mother, the next time Mr. 
Barrett calls to inquire for me, you tell him exactly what 
Dr. Wray said. I would not for worlds have him think it 
was that fire which made me ill, or he will be sending me 
another dress to make me worse ; and I don’t want him 
to know it is the dress which has made me ill, so tell 
him Dr. Wray’s opinion, will you ?” 

Mrs. Vaughan promised to do so, and kept her promise 
faithfully that very afternoon when Mr. Barrett called ; 
but she added a rider to Dr. Wray’s opinion to the effect 
that she did not agree with the doctor, she believed Lottie 
was suffering from the shock of the fire and from noth- 
ing else. 

Mr. Barrett looked grave at hearing this, and left a 
message to say he would call the next day, and should 
hope to find Miss Lottie well enough to see him. 

“ That depends upon my tea-gown. If it is finished I 
will see him, if it isn’t I shan’t,” said Lottie, who hoped 
great things would result from the effects of this garment. 

The tea-gown was finished before Mr. Barrett came, so 
Lottie arrayed herself in it, and when he arrived she was 
lying on the drawing room sofa knitting socks for Jack, 
looking pale and interesting. Her hair was dressed lower 


LOTTIE PRACTICES SELF-EXAMINATION. 223 


than usual, which softened her face and gave her an invalid 
air ; her own coloring was sufficiently brilliant to stand the 
bright blue of the tea-gown, and some old lace round her 
throat and wrists toned it down ; the garment was made 
tight to show her beautiful figure, and whether it was pretty 
or not, it was certainly becoming to Lottie. 

She rose from the sofa when Mr. Barrett was announced. 

“ Don’t get up,” he said. 

“ I must, to show you my tea-gown ; look what a lovely 
sac-train it has ; I hope you admire the way it is made ; it 
cost me a world of thought,” said Lottie, walking across the 
room as proud as a peacock. 

^ I do, indeed. I admire the dress almost as much as I 
do the wearer,” said Barrett admiringly. 

“ Is not a dress, it is a tea-gown ; it will be very useful if 
I am going to be ill long,” said Lottie sinking into the 
courting chair, taking care to exhibit one pretty little foot 
as she leant back languidly. 

“ But I hope you won’t be ill long,” said Barrett. 

“ So do I ; at least I suppose I hope to get well soon, but 
Dr. Wray does not seem hopeful ; he told mother medicine 
would not do me any good.” 

“ What is the matter with you ? ” said Mr. Barrett 
abruptly, almost sharply. 

“ I don’t know. I never was like this before in all my 
life. I can’t eat, I can’t sleep, I don’t feel any interest in 
anything. Mother thinks it is the shock of catching fire, 
but I am quite sure it is not that,” said Lottie. 

“ What do you think ails you then ? ” 

“ I don’t know. Oh, never mind ; I shall get well again, 
I dare say,” said Lottie, toying with the lace on her tea- 
gown. 

“ You must get well again ; soon, too, for my sake,” said 
Mr. Barrett looking hard at her. 

Lottie felt her color come and go, and she daren’t look up 
at him because she felt he was looking at her, and she was 
furious with herself for feeling so shy ; what did he mean ? 
She must know ; she would force herself to inquire. 

Do you really care whether I get well or no ? ” she said 
in a low voice. 

“ To be sure I do,” said Barrett in his usual cheery tone ; 


2^4 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


“ it is the shock of trying to extinguish the fire in my house 
which is making you ill, I am sure ; that and nothing else," 
he added decidedly. 

Lottie’s hopes fell to zero, and shortly after he took his 
leave. 

How blind he was — how wickedly, willfully, stupidly 
blind ; but there are none so blind as those who won’t 
see. 

She believed he knew what was the matter with her, and 
would not know it ; nothing short of telling him in plain 
English she loved him would ever force that truth into his 
dull mind, and she was prepared to go any length short of 
such plain speaking. 

Her meditations were interrupted by the entrance of Miss 
Savage. 

“ My dear Lottie, why all this splendor ? " she asked, 
glancing with a twinkle in her eye at the tea-gown. 

“ Echo answers ‘ why ? ’ This is the dress Mr. Barrett 
gave me to wear on Sundays with my buttercup hat. It has 
made me quite ill, but don’t you think I have made the best 
of it?" 

“ I do ; but you must get well again if you want to retain 
George Barrett’s favor. He has a horror of invalid women ; 
he has never had a day’s illness in his life, and has very 
little sympathy with illness," said Miss Savage, who had 
been told by Mrs. Vaughan that Lottie wanted rousing. 

“ I must get well,” thought Lottie. “ I must recover if I 
die in recovering. It sounds paradoxical, but it is true. 
This is the dismalest failure of all. My illness has counter- 
acted the effect of the tea-gown. Lottie, Lottie ! your 
judgment is warped now by your affections ; you have made 
a great mistake ; you are not a prayerful person, or you 
should fall on your knees and pray that it may not be a fatal 
error. You must get well at once — that is quite clear." 

“ Lily," she said aloud, “ open a bottle of Burgundy and 
let James fetch me a mutton chop for supper ; I am per- 
fectly ravenous." 

While supper was being prepared Lottie sat on the win- 
dow seat thinking by what stroke of genius she could 
counteract the effect of her mistake ; James had returned 
with the chop before any fresh idea had suggested itself. 


UNDER A CLOUD. 225 

but before he had finished grilling it she had decided on 
her next move. 

“ I have it. I must excite his jealousy. To think that I, 
with all my experience of men and their ways, should not 
have thought of that before. I ought to be beaten — I really 
ought. However, we fall to rise ; we sleep to wake. 
George Barrett, my friend, Lottie is awake again — wide 
awake ; she has had a tumble, but she has picked herself up ; 
so be on your guard. The game is not played out yet. 
A bientdt'' 

At this point supper was announced, and Lottie’s medita- 
tions were ended. 


CHAPTER XXIV. 

UNDER A CLOUD. 

“ It is very kind of you not to be angry with me for 
abducting you, as Sanders put it,” said the artist, when Vir- 
ginia was comfortably ensconced on the box by the side of 
him. “ It would have been a long, tedious journey with 
that one wretched horse, and I knew you wanted to 
travel by night, and to go to the forest, so I ventured to 
do it.” 

“ Oh ! I think it was a capital plan,” said Virginia. 

“ We can rest in the forest till you are tired of it, and 
then go on to Tintern or wherever you like to go next.” 

“ That must depend on Kitty. If she does riot get better 
we shall have to give up the tour and go home ; at least 
Kitty and Sanders will go home, and Jack,” said Virginia, 
with a sigh. 

“ And you ? ” said the artist. 

“ I don’t know where I shall go,” said Virginia slowly. 

“ Won’t you go home, too ? ” 

“ No, I — I have no home to go to,” said Virginia, in a 
low voice. 

“ What ! I thought you and Miss Kitty lived together,” 
exclaimed the artist. 

“ So we did, but — Mr. Claude, I am in great trouble 
though I have tried to forget it ; and I think you could help 


226 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


me, if you would be so kind,” said Virginia, taking her 
courage in both hands, but with tears in her eyes. 

You in trouble ! Great Heaven ! I would do anything 
on earth to help you, God knows. Only tell me how I can 
be of use. I promise, I mean I long, I wish, I will do any- 
thing for you,” said the artist rather incoherently. 

“ Well, the truth is, I am under a cloud. I have displeased 
my father and he has forbidden me to return home. I have 
not done anything wrong, though,” said Virginia hastily. 

“ I am certain of that,” said the artist. 

“ My father is, however, under the impression that I have 
deceived him, and I can only clear myself by betraying my 
only brother, who is ignorant of the scrape I am in. No 
one knows it except mother, and it was because of this she 
allowed us to come this tour in the van, for it is no use pre- 
tending to be gypsies any longer. I see you know we are 
not,” said Virginia with a faint smile. 

“The truth is, Miss Willoughby, I know who you are. 
This is such a serious matter, I feel I must no longer feign 
ignorance. Alec told me the Saturday before he left, and 
begged me to look after you,” said Mr. Claude very gravely. 

“ Alec promised not to tell,” said Virginia reproachfully. 

“ It was my fault. I quarreled with him because — well, 
it was very impertinent of me, and you must forgive me, 
please ; but the fact is I thought he was poaching in my 
preserves, and in self-defense he told me you were his sister. 
Believe me, he was quite right to tell me. I saw you and 
him parting on the common, and not knowing you were 
related, or even acquainted, I was naturally rather sur- 
prised.” 

Virginia blushed. 

“ Alec and I are very unfortunate ; I think we must give 
up being so demonstrative ; my father and I quarreled 
because he mistook Alec, who was disguised, for a secret 
lover, and he has forbidden me to return till I promise to 
give him up.” 

“ But surely the simplest and the best and the right thing 
to do is to get Alec to tell your father the truth,” said the 
artist decidedly. 

“ He would directly if he knew it, but I will never let him 
know, because father would be so angry with him, if it 


UNDER A CLOUD. 


227 


came out that Alec had dared to visit Greenhouse after 
the Bhap had forbidden him to do so, he would stop his 
allowance. No, I must save Alec if possible. My father 
will cool down in time, and let me go home ; he is very 
hasty. Meanwhile I want to find some family to board in. 
Do you happen to know of anyone who would receive me ? 
I want to have somewhere to go when this tour is over, and 
unless Kitty gets better we must give it up at once.” 

“ Does Miss Kitty know of all this ? ” 

“ No ; but now that her engagement with Alec is at an 
end I think I will tell her. I hesitate, because she is so 
generous she will want to help me, and I am so proud I 
can’t let her.” 

“ If you take my advice you will tell Alec at once. It is 
not right that your father should be under such an errone- 
ous impression ; the consequences of stopping Alec’s allow- 
ance would be far less to him than such treatment as this 
is to you.” 

“ That is just what mother says, but I don’t agree with 
either of you.” 

“ I am sorry to hear you say that. I wish I could persuade 
you to tell Alec. I quite understand your wish to sacrifice 
yourself for him, but it is too great a sacrifice — one the ex- 
tent of which you cannot see. Forgive me for saying it, but 
I think you should be guided in this by your mother, if not 
by me. There are things in which a man’s judgment is 
better than a woman’s, though he be inferior to her in every 
other way — socially, intellectually, morally — and this simply 
because he has an experience in life which she cannot have, 
and which would, in my opinion, detract from her womanly 
dignity if she had it.” 

“ Perhaps you are right ; I will think over what you have 
said,” replied Virginia, to whom it was a new experience to 
meet a man who ventured to disagree with her, and tell her 
she was doing wrong ; and yet this man did it so deferen- 
tially in spite of his firmness that she could not be offended. 
Moreover, she felt he was right, though, nevertheless, she 
could not bring herself to sacrifice Alec. 

“ Let’s persuade Miss Kitty to get well so as to prolong 
your tour, and let me join you, will you ? ” said Mr. Claude. 

“You have joined us,” said Virginia, laughing. 


228 


LOTTIES WOOING. 


“ Well, you see my accident entitles me, in some measure, 
to claim your help if I need it, and my doctor says nothing 
will cure me so quickly as your society." 

Virginia blushed. 

“ I thought you said your foot was healed." 

“ So I did, but my foot is not the only part of me you 
have wounded." 

“ Don’t you think we had better make Jack get up between 
us ? " said Virginia somewhat irrelevantly. 

“ No ; please don’t ; this is the most delightful drive I 
have ever had in my life, which is saying a good deal. 
Besides, it will soon be over ; I can see the chimneys of 
Speech House already through the trees,” said the artist, 
who was driving very slowly, no doubt out of consideration 
for Kitty. 

Kitty was decidedly better for her abduction ; the change 
of scene from the common to the forest seemed to amuse 
her, and the prospect of a comfortable bedroom instead of 
the close quarters of the van and the fear of brigands and 
burglars did her good. They were a merry party at break- 
fast as they rehearsed the adventures of the night, even 
Kitty occasionally joining in the mirth. 

Aher breakfast they took the van about half a mile from 
the hotel, and encamped on a wide, grassy spot where a 
clearing had been made ; they then started off to explore the 
forest, leaving Sanders to cater for them and prepare dinner 
at seven. 

All that day Virginia and the artist were continually 
disappearing; no sooner did Jack and Kitty find them than 
they lost them again, to the great amusement of Jack, who 
declared it was the best game of hide and seek that he had 
ever played. 

The lost couple never strayed very far, the artist’s walk- 
ing powers being limited to a circle round the van. They 
were surprisingly ready with an excuse for each disappear- 
ance. ^ 

Once Jack discovered them seated side by side uncrcr an 
oak, but they were only waiting for a purple emperor but- 
terfly, which actually was soaring among the upper branches 
of its favorite tree, to come down and be caught. 

Once they were found stooping over a bank, their heads 


UNDER A CLOUD. 


229 


almost touching, Virginia's hand in the artist’s ; but they 
were only trying to root up a fly orchis, which Virginia was 
in ecstasies at having found. 

Once they were discovered standing side by side under a 
large beech tree, and certainly the artist’s arm seemed to 
Jack to be round Virginia’s waist, but he was only support- 
ing himself against the trunk of the tree, while they watched 
a squirrel running along the boughs. 

Once Jack caught them tripping ; he came upon them 
suddenly, and found Virginia seated on a mossy stump, and 
the artist lying at her feet gazing up at her in silent admira- 
tion ; but they were only struck dumb because they were 
listening to a nightingale singing on the top of a neighbor- 
ing tree. 

“Come, come,” said Jack, “that won’t do ; it is the end 
of June — the nightingale’s song ceases in the second week.” 

Virginia was equal to the occasion. 

“ Of course it is only a blackcap, but it is copying the 
nightingale’s trills to perfection,’’ she said. 

“ I don’t believe it was even a mock nightingale,” said 
Jack to Kitty. “ Let’s leave them alone ; they evidently 
don’t want us ; let’s go and gather wild flowers and decorate 
our humble and lowly dinner table.” 

Kitty, who was passionately fond of flowers, and who 
really seemed to be making an effort to forget her trouble, 
threw herself into this occupation so ardently that when 
Virginia and Mr. Claude appeared to tea they found a huge 
pyramid of wild rosebay, foxgloves, the great yellow stars 
of the large St. John’s wort, and the handsome blue flowers 
of the wild geranium all arranged in two pails, one mounted 
on the other, and hidden with traveler’s joy. 

That night the artist and Jack slept in the van, and San- 
ders and the two girls at the hotel. And the following day 
Mr. Claude and Virginia pretended to sketch. And when 
teased in the evening about the little they had done, Jack 
anH Kitty were surprised to hear they had worked very 
hard*, and Virginia had learned more perspective in that one 
day than in all her previous life. Indeed, it was surprising 
how much these two young people were misunderstood, and 
their actions misinterpreted by Jack, during the few days 
they spent in the forest. 


230 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


They arrived there on a Saturday morning, and on the 
following Wednesday afternoon Kitty, who had been 
depressed and ill all the morning, announced her intention 
of going to the hotel to lie down ; she was sure there was 
going to be a thunderstorm, and, as she was dreadfully nerv- 
ous in a storm, she made Sanders go with her. 

Virginia and Mr. Claude started for a walk in spite of the 
threatening sky, and Jack, who was suddenly seized with a 
fit of industry, strung one of the hammocks outside the van, 
and getting into it with some books pretended to study. 

It had been close and sultry all the morning, one of those 
heavy, gray days which seem weighted with impending 
catastrophes, and now thick thunderclouds hung over the 
sky, making the atmosphere oppressive and stifling as Vir- 
ginia and the artist roamed under the trees, too happy to 
heed the weather. 

Virginia was wearing her gypsy sunbonnet and had no 
sunshade nor umbrella, while the artist carried a stout stick 
to help him along. They wandered about half a mile from 
the van, and then seated themselves under a tree by the side 
of a wide, grassy road which ran through this part of the 
forest, and was used by timber carts and coal wagons. 

I have been thinking over what you said to me as we 
were coming here about Alec and my father,” said Virginia 
when they were settled. 

“ Well, and what have you decided to do ? ” he asked. 

“ I have not decided. I want someone to decide for me,” 
said Virginia, toying with some beech mast. 

“ Let me decide and act too for you.” 

Virginia smiled, and then said with an effort : 

“ I think you are right ; you are better able to judge in 
such a matter than I,” and the artist knew that for a proud 
girl like her this avowal was not an easy one to make. 

“ Then you will tell Alec the scrape he has got you into,” 
said Mr. Claude eagerly. 

Virginia shook her head, and her eyes filled with tears: “ I 
can’t do that. I can’t betray Alec ; it would ruin his pros- 
pects for life. All I can do is to bear my father’s anger for 
the present ; he will relent soon,” she said sadly. 

“ You shan’t sacrifice yourself in that way. I know the 
best way out of the difficulty. Be my wife and give me the 


UNDER A CLOUD. 


231 


right to take care of you. Virginia, my queen, my beloved, 
I love you with my whole heart. Is there any hope for a 
poor, struggling artist ? ” 

Virginia’s answer was interrupted by a sudden blaze of 
lightning, followed almost immediately by a terrific clap of 
thunder, which so startled them both that involuntarily they 
rose to their feet, and she turned to the artist as if for pro- 
tection. 

He interpreted the gesture for consent, and clasped her 
in his arms, but the natural instinct of self-preservation cut 
short their embrace. 

“ We must keep as far from the trees as we can ; the storm 
is just over us,” he said, as with his arms round Virginia he 
led her into the middle .of the green road, across which the 
branches of the spreading trees which lined its sides occa- 
sionally met. 

Before the words were out of his mouth another zigzag 
flash of blue light seemed to enter the ground at a stone’s 
throw from them, and instantaneously a cracking peal of 
thunder rent the air, all the more marked by the deadly 
stillness of the forest ; not a leaf rustled in the still air, not 
a bird had the courage to utter a note. 

“ How grand it sounds,” said Virginia. 

“ Run to the van, my beloved ; it is so dangerous here we 
may be killed any moment. I can’t walk fast, and in five 
minutes you could reach the van,” said the artist, who was 
very pale. 

His nervous temperament was affected by the electricity 
in the air ; he had had a slight headache all day ; and he was 
conscious they were in great danger, though Virginia did 
not seem in the least alarmed. 

“ What ! leave you ! ” she exclaimed reproachfully, with 
a world of meaning in the tone. 

At that moment a flash of lightning struck a tree close to 
them, splitting the trunk in two with a hissing sound ; they 
both saw it happen and smelt the burning wood, and when 
the roar of thunder which followed it was over Virginia 
said as they clung instinctively to each other : 

“ How awful ! If we had been under that tree we must 
have been killed.” 

As she spoke the rain began to fall in torrents — a heavy. 


232 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


drenching rain, and in two minutes she had not a dry thing 
on her ; her sunbonnet was soaked, her blouse and skirt 
were wringing wet. 

“ Thank God for the rain. You will get drenched, but it 
is less dangerous, and God only knows what the next flash 
may strike,” said Mr. Claude. 

The next flash seemed almost to blind them for a moment, 
but before the thunder had rolled away Jack appeared run- 
ning toward them with mackintoshes. 

“ Take my arm, Mr. Claude. Great Scott ! what a storm. 
Miss Willoughby, run to the van ; it is awfully dangerous 
among all these trees,” said Jack as he wrapped a mackin- 
tosh over Virginia’s head and shoulders, and then gave the 
artist an arm. 

“ I am not in the least frightened, and Mr. Claude will 
get on quicker with two arms than with one,” said Virginia 
as the trio hurried toward the comparative safety of the 
van. 

Another flash and roar, and then the rain fell with 
increased violence. 

“ Thank you. Jack, for bringing the mackintosh. It saves 
my head a little. The rain quite hurt me through that soft 
sunbonnet.” 

“ You are a dear, plucky boy to come after us in such a 
storm,” said the artist, pressing Jack’s arm. 

“ I should have been a brute if I had not come,” said 
Jack. “There’s another good one. Warm work, this. 
How frightened Miss Kitty will be,” he added as another 
flash not quite so vivid played in front of them. 

“ Here we are at last,” said the artist as they reached 
the open space on which the van stood, and in another 
moment they were safe inside it. 

Virginia pulled off the mackintosh and sunbonnet, and 
left them outside, and the three dripping creatures sank 
exhausted on to the lockers. 

“ I think the worst is over. That last flash was further 
off. Were you frightened, gypsy queen ? ” said Jack. 

“ No ; I was awe-struck once or twice, but I am never 
nervous in a storm, and I was too happy to be frightened 
to-day. It was ecstasy,” said Virginia, blushing. 

“ I think Jack deserves to be told the news before anyone 


UNDER A CLOUD. 233 

else. Miss Willoughby has just made me the happiest man 
on earth,” said Mr. Claude. 

“ Do you mean you are going to annex each other ? 
Well, I have seen it coming all along. I congratulate you 
both sincerely,” said Jack. 

“Yes, the gypsy queen is going to annex a poor, strug- 
gling artist. Isn’t it foolish of her?” said Mr. Claude. 

“ It is the wisest thing I ever did in my life,” said Virginia 
proudly. 

“ What will you say if I tell you your poor, struggling 
artist is Sir Claude Lawrence, Baronet, with a charming 
place in the North, and an income of ten thousand a 
year ? ” said Sir Claude Lawrence, as we must now call 
him. 

“ You don’t mean to say you are really Alec’s friend, Sir 
Claude Lawrence, whom I have heard so much about,” 
exclaimed Virginia. 

“ Well, I am not altogether surprised. I suspected when 
you wired for those horses you were better off than you pre- 
tended to be. Lady Lawrence, the storm is over ; I will 
run and tell Miss Kitty and Sanders that you are safe,” said 
Jack, feeling that he was not wanted. 

“ O Claude, what did you think of all my airs and 
graces when I first knew you ? ” said Virginia when they 
were alone. 

“ I enjoyed them. I purposely shocked you several 
times. But, Virginia, you have not yet told me that you 
love me,” said Sir Claude. 

It was half-past four when Jack left the van. It was past 
five when he returned with Sanders, hoping, as he said, to 
find they had got tea ready in his absence ; but it had taken 
Virginia nearly three-quarters of an hour to answer a 
simple question, and, needless to say, they had made no 
effort to prepare tea. 

“ Tea, indeed ! Sitting there like a couple of drowned 
rats, with no more thought of tea than of changing their 
clothes. Miss Vi, you please to run to the hotel and change 
everything you have on, and, Mr. Claude, you do the same 
here, or I shall have three people to nurse instead of one,” 
said Sanders. 

“ Sanders, moderate your language. This is Sir Claude 


234 


LOTTIE'S WOOING, 


Lawrence, and that lady, formerly our gypsy queen, is the 
future Lady Lawrence,” said Jack grandly. 

“ Well, I never ! ” exclaimed Sanders as she followed Vir- 
ginia to the hotel. 


CHAPTER XXV. 

MR. BARRETT IS MADE JEALOUS. 

Lottie’s convalescence was very much helped Ly two 
letters received the day after Mr. Barrett found her on the 
sofa in the blue tea gown ; one was from Jack, telling her 
of their cousin’s misalliance^ the other from Alec Wil- 
loughby, saying he had returned home, having broken off 
his engagement to Kitty, and begging to be allowed to call 
at The Cottage. 

“My dear child, Lottie is herself again,” said Lottie in 
answer to Lily’s inquiries at breakfast. “ Fortune is smiling 
on us at last ; George Vaughan has committed the social sin 
I always predicted he would commit ; he has married some 
actress, and Uncle Vaughan has disowned him. I am very 
glad to hear that. Go down bottom, George Vaughan ; go up 
higher. Jack, and Lottie, and Lily.” 

“ I can’t call that good news ; Uncle Vaughan is sure to 
forgive him on his deathbed, if he does not before. Were 
there no other letters ? ” said Lily. 

“Yes ; one which will interest you far more than Jack’s. 
You may read it,” said Lottie, throwing Alec’s letter to her 
sister. 

“ O Lottie ! what am I to do now he has broken it off 
with Kitty ? ” exclaimed Lily, leaning back in her chair. 

“ Eat your breakfast,” said the practical Lottie. 

“ Am I to let him call ? ” 

“ Look here, Lil, I’ll tell you what I want you to do. I 
want you to lend him to me for a few days, or perhaps it 
might be a week. I promise you I won’t poach even a hair 
of his head ; our conversation shall be entirely of you. In 
you we will live and move and have our being, while all 
the time we shall appear to be desperately gone on each 
other. Do you see ? ” 


MR. BARRETT IS MADE JEALOUS. 


235 


No, I don’t. Why do you want to borrow Alec ? ” 

“ Only because I want to act a little play with him, the 
scene of which will be laid mainly in the High Street just 
opposite Mr. Barrett’s office ; the curtain will rise at half- 
past eleven every morning. We might have an afternoon 
performance in our drawing room at five one day, with you, 
mother, and Mr. Barrett for audience. Will you lend 
him ? ” 

“ Certainly ; you can take him and keep him if you like. 
I don’t want him.” 

“You goose ! A man mayn’t marry his grandmother. I 
give you my word I’ll play fair, Lil. It would not do for 
you to forgive him immediately ; play your fish a little be- 
fore you land him, or rather lend me the rod, and I’ll have 
him at your feet at the end of a week. I’ll send him a note 
asking him to meet me to-morrow outside Mr. Barrett’s 
office at half-past eleven.” 

“ I can’t think why you select such a public place. Oh, 
yes, I can ! I see now. You want to make Mr. Barrett 
jealous. O Lottie ! Lottie ! what a naughty girl you 
are.” 

Mr. Barrett generally started at about half-past eleven in 
his dogcart to visit some of the duke’s tenants or to attend 
a meeting, so he was pretty sure to see the meeting of Alec 
and Lottie at that hour. The following morning a little be- 
fore the half hour he went to the window to see if his horse 
was at the door, and to his surprise saw Alec Willoughby 
kicking his heels about in the street. 

“ What is he doing, I wonder ? ” thought Mr. Barrett, and 
business not being very pressing just then, he waited to see ; 
and in a few minutes his patience was rewarded by the 
arrival of Lottie Vaughan. 

She had evidently come by appointment, for she held out 
her watch to Alec to show she was punctual, and the two 
sauntered slowly away together. 

“ What now ? Is she making a dead set at that young 
coxcomb ? He is just at an age to be captivated by the 
attentions of a clever girl older than himself, who’ll flatter 
him into the belief he is a second Iron Duke. Talk about 
money ; it is not money, it is woman who is the root of all 
pvil,” muttered Mr. Barrett as he left the window. 


236 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


Meanwhile Lottie was assuring Alec of Lily’s affections, 
and of her ultimate forgiveness, and suggesting as a means 
of hastening matters that he should pretend to have a 
desperate flirtation with her. 

“ At the end of a few days she’ll send for you ; meanwhile 
pretend to be making love to me,” said Lottie. 

“ I don’t desire a more agreeable form of employment,” 
said Alec. 

“ It is not a bad way of passing the time. Let’s walk 
round by The Dell ; if Miss Savage sees us she is sure to 
tell Lil,” said Lottie, adding to herself, “ and George Bar- 
rett also, which is much more to the point.” 

The next morning just as Mr. Barrett’s dogcart drew up 
at his office door Alec and Lottie met again at the opposite 
side of the street, and stood laughing and talking till Mr. 
Barrett came out, mounted his dogcart, and, taking off his 
hat to Lottie, drove off looking as black as thunder. 

“ Hallo ! we are making somebody else jealous as well 
as Lily. Barrett looked very savage,” said Alec. 

“ Never mind ; he will get over it. Now would you like 
to see the scene of my accident ? If so, instead of going for 
a walk in the heat, will you meet me at Mr. Barrett’s new 
house this afternoon at six ? Lil will be so wild at our 
meeting twice in one day that I expect she’ll tell me to ask 
you to tea to-morrow.” 

Now the truth was this was a Wednesday, and every 
Wednesday, as Lottie knew, Mr. Barrett was in the habit of 
going to his new house before he dined at The Dell, so she 
was almost sure of meeting him therebetween six and seven. 

Nevertheless she appeared to be very much disturbed and 
surprised when, as she and Alec were prowling round the 
outside of the house, peering in at the windows, they sud- 
denly came upon Mr. Barrett who had just arrived. 

“Why, here is Mr. Barrett ! What a surprise ! I am 
so glad you have come. I want to show Mr. Willoughby 
the scene of my accident, but as the house seems empty we 
did not like to go in alone for fear Mrs. Grundy might hear 
of it. Will you chaperon me ? ” 

1 “ Is she making a cat’s-paw of me ? Never mind ; one 
good turn deserves another. She is an awfully jolly girl ; I’ll 
abet her,” thought Alec, 


BARRETT IS MADE JEALOUS. 237 

Certainly I will escort you ; but as you have come so 
far isn’t it rather straining at a gnat to go no further?" 
said Mr. Barrett, who resented being shelved in this way for 
that young coxcomb, as he mentally described Alec. 

“ No further ! What do you mean ? Why, two more dis- 
creet people than we two don’t exist ; we have been prowl- 
ing about here, looking and longing and not daring to enter 
for the last half hour. We were lucky to meet you. Oh, Mr. 
Willoughby, here’s the room where the fire was, and that’s 
where I stood and threw the water, and that’s where I was 
lying when Mr. Barrett found me, and put me out,’’ said 
Lottie, running into the hall. 

“ You have put him out now," said Alec in an undertone 
as Mr. Barrett went to open the window of the room the 
fire was in, looking very cross. 

Never mind ; I’ll soon put him into a good temper again. 
When are you coming to see us again, Mr. Barrett ? " said 
Lottie, following him to the window. 

Barrett grumbled something about not being wanted. 

“ Nonsense. You are always wanted except by the police. 
Mother wants you, and Lily wants you, and — and I want 
you," and Lottie lowered her voice and looked archly at 
him, and then added in her usual sprightly manner, “ to 
come to tea to-morrow afternoon." 

Mr. Barrett accepted the invitation. 

“ And there is one thing I want you to promise, that is 
not to tell Miss Savage you met us here. It is really all right, 
as you were with us, but she might be scandalized." 

“ She certainly would be. No, I will not tell her." 

“ What a charming house, Barrett ; it is nearly finished, 
isn’t it ? ’’ said Alec, who had been exploring the ground 
floor while Lottie was talking to Mr. Barrett. 

“Yes, there is only the papering and painting to finish 
now ; the papers can’t be hung for some time — not until 
the walls are dry, but I shall begin furnishing as soon as 
the painters are out. I have just ordered the carpets and 
curtains." 

“ Have you ? What sort of carpets are you going to 
have ? ’’ said Lottie, feeling intensely interested in the 
answer. 

“ The same throughout the house — red and green Brussels, 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


238 

with curtains to match ; the drawing room suite is to be 
covered in damask of the same pattern and colors as the 
carpets,” said Mr. Barrett. 

Lottie’s face was a study at hearing this ; horror and 
disgust were her principal feelings, but she masked them 
beautifully, and exclaimed : 

How charming ; but then you have such good taste in 
all those things.” 

No sooner were she and Alec alone^again, after leaving 
Mr. Barrett to talk to the caretaker, than her pent-up 
feelings burst out. 

Isn’t it wicked ? Red and green carpets and curtains, 
and a drawing room suite in these days, when no two chairs 
should match. Imagine a suite ! The very word is enough 
to make one faint. Oh ! what would I give to have the 
choosing of that furniture ! I could have made that 
house perfectly lovely ; now it will be abominable. Isn’t it 
a pity ? ” 

“ Perhaps old Savage will set fire to it again ; I am sure 
he’ll try to one of these days.” 

“ Well, there is one thing very certain. I’ll never 
risk my life to save a drawing room suite,” said Lottie, 
laughing, as she and Alec separated, Alec having received 
an invitation to tea at The Cottage the next day, and 
a promise that Lottie would do her very best to induce 
Lily to see him. 

“ It is working famously ; he is wild with jealousy ; this 
is the best plan I have tried yet. If only Lil does not turn 
restive. I want to keep up the game a little longer ; then, 
as soon as I have got a rise out of my lord. I’ll turn round 
and tell him it is Lil’s game I have been playing, her fish 
I have been landing. I’ll make her come in to tea to-mor- 
row. She won’t require much pressure ; she is longing to 
see him, little goose. She’ll never get anyone half so nice 
as Alec. I declare I am half in love with him myself ; at 
least I should be if I had not fallen a victim to this most 
trying of all complaints. Lil will never get anyone to love 
her better than he does, so I can tell her,” thought Lottie 
as she walked home. 

As she had foreseen, Lil did not require much pressure 
to consent to see Alec when she heard he was coming to 


Mr. barretT is made jealous. 230 

tea ; but she rather objected when she heard he was to be 
closeted in the morning room with Lottie until Mr. Barrett 
arrived. 

“ Then, Lil, send for us, and pretend to be jealous, and 
tell Mr. Barrett you can’t think what we have been doing 
so long alone in the morning room.” 

“ It is quite true that I can’t think what you are going to 
do,” said Lily. 

“ Never mind. You promised to lend me Alec for 
a week. I have only kept him a few days, and you may 
have him all to yourself after to-day. Only don’t be too 
nice to him just at first ; be cool and dignified.” 

“ I mean to be,” said Lily, who was beginning to feel 
just a trifle jealous of Lottie. 

Alec arrived nearly an hour before Mr. Barrett, and it 
tasked even Lottie’s powers of amusement to entertain him 
all that time, when he was eagerly longing to see Lily. 
Lottie was also restless, for she was equally anxious to see 
Mr. Barrett. 

Miss Savage called during the afternoon, and was enter- 
tained by Lily and Mrs, Vaughan, but she did not stay 
to tea. At last Lottie heard Mr. Barrett’s footstep, and 
immediately after James came to summon her and Alec 
to the drawing room. 

Mr. Barrett was very glum at first, but Lottie seated her- 
self by him, and rattled on in her usual style, leaving Alec 
to try and overcome Lily’s marked coldness. 

“ He is jealous ; he cares. I have moved him at last. I 
wonder what the result will be,” thought Lottie as Mr. Bar- 
rett sat moodily by her side, poking at the carpet with his 
stick. 

Give me your stick ; you’ll poke a hole in the only carpet 
we possess,” said Lottie at last. 

“ I should dearly like to give it you,” said Barrett savagely 
as he handed it to her. 

“ Why ? What have I done to deserve such treatment ? ” 
said Lottie innocently. 

“ You have made three people utterly miserable.” 

“ What ? I ? What do you mean ? Who are the unfor- 
tunate three, pray?” 

“There are two,” said Barrett, nodding toward Lily and 


LOTTIE'S iVOOlNC. 


240 

Alec, who seemed to be on very distant terms with each 
other. 

“ Oh ! I understand ; and who is the third person ? ” 

“ Never mind. I must say I am very much surprised and 
disappointed too to think you have stolen a march on your 
own sister.” 

“You would not have minded if it had been someone 
else’s sister, then ? ” said Lottie. 

“ I did not say that ; it would not have surprised me in 
that case, in the very least.” 

“ I see. Well, it was horrid of me to cut Lil out, wasn’t it ? ” 

“ It was very unkind, and you are always so kind to your 
brother and sister ” 

“ Yes, but Alec is so handsome and so fascinating don’t 
you think there was some excuse for me ? ” 

“ No, I do not. He is a desperate flirt, if that is what you 
mean by being fascinating, but I don’t believe he cares a 
snap of the finger really for anyone except himself.” 

“ Oh, yes he does. He is desperately in love with a cer- 
tain Miss Vaughan, and I am quite sure he will never really 
care for anyone else,” said Lottie. 

“ Am I to congratulate you, then ? ” said Mr. Barrett 
coldly enough. 

“ Yes, on having helped to reconcile two people who were 
dying to be reconciled. It is Lily Alec is in love with, not 
me ; so now don’t you think you owe me an apology for 
having misjudged me so, you unkind creature? As if I 
would be so mean as to try and steal Lily’s lover from her, 
or so foolish as to think I could do it if I tried. You have 
been very horrid to me, Mr. Barrett, accusing me so 
unjustly. I won’t talk to you any more,” and Lottie turned 
away from him. 

Mr. Barrett’s answer was to go into a roar of laughter. 

“That was your game, was it? Upon my word. Miss 
Lottie, you are marvelously clever. I have misjudged you, 
I confess, but you must acknowledge appearances were very 
much against you ?” 

“ I shan’t acknowledge anything of the kind. I am very 
cross with you — very. Lil, why did not Miss Savage stay to 
tea ? ’’ said Lottie, ignoring or pretending to ignore Mr. 
Barrett. 


MR. BARRETT IS MADE JEALOUS. 




“ She could not ; Mr. Savage was waiting for her.” 

“ Had she any news ? ” asked Lottie. 

“ No, she was talking about heaven. I told her she was 
in a very exalted mood ; she says such quaint things some- 
times,” said Lily. 

“ What did she say about heaven ? ” asked Mr. Barrett. 

“ That if it were at all like the conventional description 
of heaven she did not wish to go there.” 

“Bravo, Miss Savage! I quite agree with her,” said 
Alec. 

“ Did she suggest any improvement on the ordinary con- 
ception of it ? ” said Mr. Barrett. 

“ Yes ; her idea of heaven is a place in which love will be 
equal. She says on earth it is always unequal ; it is always, 
as the French say, one who loves, and one who permits 
himself to be loved. In heaven love will be perfect, there- 
fore it will be equal, and I think she went on to say because 
love would be equal there therefore it would be heaven.” 

“ That’s exactly like her,” said Mr. Barrett. 

“ It is exactly true about love on earth ; whether it is 
true about heaven I can’t say, because -I have never been 
there ; and I hope it is not very wicked of me to say so, but 
I don’t wish to go there just yet,” said Lottie. 

“ I think if love were equal on earth earth would be 
heaven ; at any rate it would satisfy all my aspirations,” 
said Alec in an undertone to Lily. Lottie overheard, and 
thinking it a favorable moment for them to come to terms, 
if they were only alone, she sent them into the garden to 
look at her poppies. 

Perhaps she also wanted to give Mr. Barrett an oppor- 
tunity of improving the occasion, but he did not avail him- 
self of it, although Mrs. Vaughan was nodding over her 
knitting, so they were practically alone. 

When he was gone Lottie rushed into the morning room, 
and taking Sell oii to her lap apostrophized him as she was 
in the habit of doing. 

“ O Sell ! was there ever in all this world so dense a 
being as Mr. Barrett ? He is as jealous as you are, dear 
dog, if I look at anyone else ; jealousy is a sign of love, so 
he must care for me, and he must see I don’t hate him, and 
yet the donkey won’t say the words which would make us 


^42 LOTTIE'S WOOING. 

both happy ever after. O Sell, dear, the man who gave 
you to me is a sell, but he is not half such a clever Sell as 
you are." 

Sell wagged his tail and-looked as if he understood all 
his mistress was saying, as no doubt he did, and he did not 
take it at all unkindly that she suddenly popped him on 
to the floor and, jumping up, exclaimed : 

“ Oh, dear ! how I wish I had an enemy ! " 

‘‘Yes," she thought, “I do ; I wish I had a horrid, mean, 
spiteful enemy — it would be a woman, of course ; men are 
never spiteful — but I should not care who it was, only an 
enemy who would go and put an advertisement of our mar- 
riage — George Barrett’s and mine, I mean — into the Times. 
That, perhaps, might suggest the idea to him ; it never seems 
to enter his head ; he has no more idea of marrying me 
than he has of furnishing his house properly, though he is 
jealous if I flirt with anyone else. Perhaps if he saw the 
idea in print as a fait accompli it might occur to him that 
he might do worse. I don’t know that it would even then, 
but still there’s the chance that it might. Oh, dear ! why 
have not I an enemy to do it for me ? Or even a friend 
whom I could trust ? O Sell, dear, you are the only friend 
I dare confide such a secret as that to, and you can’t help 
me. 

Sell jumped on to a chair and rubbed his nose against 
his mistress’ arm, as if to deprecate his inability to help 
her in this particular way, and to suggest that if only a rat, 
or a cat, or a fowl, or a rabbit, or even a hare would do as 
well as a man he would be only too happy to oblige her by 
catching one. 

“ I wish it would occur to Lily and Alec to do it for a 
joke, or to Jack, or to that madman Mr, Savage. Pie thinks 
of many mad things — why can’t he think of that ? I daren’t 
give Lil the slightest shadow of a hint to do it, and she’ll 
never think of it herself — never, never. And yet I really 
believe that would accomplish what nothing else will. Oh, 
dear ! oh, dear ! to think that five shillings spent on an 
advertisement would probably get me my heart’s desire. 
Five shillings ! Why, the wealth of the Indies would not get 
some people what they want. To think a paltry five shillings 
would in all probability get me George Barrett, and yet not 


MR. BARRETT IS MADE JEALOUS. 243 

to be able to spend that five shillings in the way to accom- 
plish my object. It is maddening, Sell ; it is positively 
maddening.” 

Sell wagged his tail and whined, and looked at the door, 
and pulled at his mistress’ dress, and suggested as plainly 
as his canine nature would allow him to do that fresh air 
and a run across the fields would ward off an attack of 
incipient madness. 

‘‘ Be quiet, Sell. I am not going out, and I am not going 
to play with you — at least not until I have thought of some- 
one to play this trick on me. Is there no one who will do 
it — positively no one in the whole wide world ? What a 
miserable girl I am to have no one to do it for me. No one, 
neither friend nor foe, who will do it. Ah ! bah ! what a 
donkey I am ! Sell ! what a brainless idiot is your mis- 
tress. You can’t contradict her, dear dog, can you ? There 
is one person in the whole wide, wide world who can do it 
for me — who can do it, who will do it, who must do it, who 
shall do it. 

“ Stop a minute Lottie Vaughan. Isn’t it a criminal 
offense ? I believe it is — I am sure it is ; I know it is if 
found out. But never mind ; it never will be found out, for 
there is only one person in the world who will ever know 
who did it, and that is. Sell, dear, the very person who is 
going to do it. 

“ Lottie, Lottie, cheer up. Heaven helps them who help 
themselves. Sell, I wonder if Heaven helps robbers who 
help themselves to other people’s property. Sell, dear, your 
mistress is getting irreverent. She has solved the problem ; 
she has squared her circle. Let us go and see what those 
lovers are doing.” 

Sell had no curiosity with regard to the lovers, but he was 
rejoiced to hear his mistress’ fit of thought was over, and 
delighted to accept her invitation, since it included a walk 
in the garden, where Alec and Lily were still among the 
poppies. 


LOTTIE'S iVOOIMC. 


H4 


CHAPTER XXVI. 

IN THE RAIN. 

Weep no more, lady, weep no more ; 

Thy sorrow is in vain ; 

For violets plucked the sweetest showers 
Will ne’er make grow again. 

The thunderstorm in which Sir Claude and Virginia 
were caught unsettled the weather and threatened to break 
up the traveling party ; it rained so hard on the evening of 
the storm that Sir Claude and Jack took the van to the inn, 
locked it up in the coachhouse, and slept at Speech House. 
The next day was sultry and oppressive, and an unceasing 
and heavy rain fell from dawn to sunset. 

Jack frankly owned he did not know what to do with 
himself ; Kitty lay on the sofa, silent and idle, dreading a 
return of the thunder ; Sanders was distinctly cross, as Jack 
distinctly told her. Virginia and the artist alone were per- 
fectly happy ; or perhaps it would be more correct to say 
they were perfectly happy alone, and imperfectly happy 
when anyone else was with them. 

What did it matter to them whether it rained or not ? 
They put on mackintoshes and walked out in the rain. 
What cared they if there was nothing to do indoors ? 
They found plenty to do. The only difficulty they experi- 
enced was to find an empty room in which to do it, and 
this very difficulty gave a zest to their employment. They 
were very busy making love. They made it very well ; and 
yet when Jack asked them at luncheon what they had 
been doing they were obliged to answer “ Nothing.” 

If they had been making pastry, or making money, or 
making hay they would have been ready enough with an 
answer, but because they had been making “ the greatest 
thing in the world ” conventionality obliged them to say 
they had been making nothing. 

In the evening Jack ventured to inquire how much longer 
they proposed to stay in the forest, which he described as 
not a bad place in fine weather, but decidedly slow in wet. 

“ Pray let us get away from here, Virginia ; another 


IN’ ME RAtEt. 545 

thunderstorm would kill me. I was simply terrified by the 
thunder yesterday,” said Kitty. 

“ The thunder can’t hurt you ; it is the lightning which 
is dangerous. I confess I don’t like lightning,” said Sir 
Claude. 

“ I do ; I love a storm. But about leaving the forest. I 
propose we go to Monmouth next, and then follow the Wye 
down to Chepstow. We can easily drive to Monmouth in 
a few hours from here. Suppose we start after lunch to- 
morrow, stop and have tea and bait the horses on the road, 
and get on to Monmouth in time for dinner.” 

“ The horses will be the difficulty. Yours have gone home, 
haven’t they, Sir Claude ? ” said Jack. 

“ Yes, the van was too heavy for them ; the roads and the 
hills are very bad. We’ll hire if we can,” said Sir Claude. 

This turned out to be more difficult than Sir Claude had 
thought it would be, and they only succeeded in getting 
one horse, which, though a fairly strong one, objected to 
going beyond a jog trot. Nevertheless it seemed to go 
quite as fast as Sir Claude, who was driving, and Virginia, 
who sat by his side, desired. Jack and Sanders walked 
most of the way, and Kitty traveled in a hammock inside 
the van, declining all Vi’s invitations to sit on the box and 
enjoy the country ; she would not spoil the sport by making 
three where two were company. 

Moreover, she could not bear watching Virginia’s happi- 
ness when she was so miserable herself ; not that she grudged 
Virginia her happiness, but the sight of it jarred on her, and 
put her out of tune with herself and everyone else. She lay 
in her hammock, silent and sorrowful, sometimes weeping, 
thinking herself the most miserable being on the face of the 
earth, and not the less confident of her exceeding misery 
because the sound of happy laughter from the box fre- 
quently broke upon her loneliness. 

Sometimes Jack came and rode on the step of the van, 
and tried to get a laugh out of her ; sometimes Sanders 
would get inside the van for a little while and talk to her ; 
but it seemed to Kitty an interminable drive, and she 
resolved when they halted for tea she would walk on a few 
miles with Sanders, and leave Jack to escort the lovers. 

It was not a day to inspire ordinary mortals with good 


LOTTIE'S WOOING, 


246 

spirits. Great, heavy rain clouds hung over the sky like an 
impenetrable mantle. 

They halted for tea at a picturesque village on the bank 
of the Wye. Here they found they had come out of their 
way, and would have to mount a very bad hill before they 
found themselves on the Monmouth road, which Sir Claude 
knew to be one of the most beautiful in England. 

Jack went to inspect the hill, and came back to report 
that it was so steep they must try and hire a second horse ; 
and even then all except Kitty would have to walk up it. 
Kitty, however, said she would much rather walk, as she was 
nervous going up a steep hill lest the horses should jib. So 
the two girls and Sanders started to walk, leaving Jack and 
Sir Claude to follow v/hen the horse was rested. 

It began to rain after they started. They had umbrellas, 
and Virginia had a mackintosh, but Kitty had obstinately 
refused to bring hers, although she was wearing only a thin 
blouse. 

The hill they had to climb was a mile long, and very steep 
in places, and a very rough road the whole way. It was a 
wild bit of country. On their right hand stood a thick 
wood ; on their left a ravine, covered with bracken and 
whins and young shrubs, which grew steeper and steeper as 
they mounted higher and higher. Service trees and spindle 
trees lined the road, and traveler’s joy threw its beautiful 
trailing blossoms in all directions, but the rain was too 
heavy to allow Virginia to botanize. They stopped from 
time to time to rest and look back at the wild, romantic 
scenery, with the river down below in the valley they had 
just left ; but as they went higher and higher, and the rain 
fell faster and faster, no sign of the van following them was 
to be seen or heard. 

“ Miss Kitty, you’ll catch your death of cold. You’ll be 
wet through before they overtake us. I’ll run back and get 
your mackintosh,” said Sanders. 

“ No, Sanders, you must not leave us. This is a horribly 
lonely road. I am terrified lest we should meet any men. 
There is not a cottage to be seen. I do wish the van would 
come,” said Kitty. 

On they toiled, the red earth clinging to their boots, and 
making walking very difficult, as the rain fell in torrents. 


IN THE RAIN. 


247 

And still there was no sign of the van behind nor of the top 
of the hill in front of them. 

“ I hope we are going right, Vi,” said Kitty. 

“Yes ; there is but one road, and we are to follow that 
till we see a church on our right, and then to wait in the 
valley adjoining it for the van.” 

“ It seems an endless journey ; I wish the others would 
come,” said Kitty. 

“ I hear voices ; perhaps they are coming,” said Virginia. 

The girls stopped and looked back, but instead of the 
van they saw two men, whose faces and clothes were as red 
as brick, coming quickly up the hill behind them. They 
were not pleasant looking men to meet in a lonely country 
road, and Kitty, who did not know that all the men who 
worked in the iron mines were red when they came out of 
them, was terrified. 

“ O Vi, what dreadful creatures ! They look like red 
Indians. They are coming up after us. What shall we do ? 
How I wish the others would come ! How stupid they are 
to be so long ! Oh, make haste, Vi ! Sanders, let me take 
hold of your arm ; it makes my heart beat so walking fast 
uphill.” 

“ Don't hurry so, then. They are only miners going 
home from their work ; they won’t hurt us,” said Virginia, 
who nevertheless did not like the look of the men, who 
seemed to be half tipsy. 

“ Don’t hurry. Miss Kitty ; you’ll get so hot, and then 
you’ll get a chill ; the men won’t hurt us,” said Sanders, who 
was far more afraid of Kitty making herself ill than she was 
of tipsy miners. 

Kitty was too much afraid the men should overtake them 
to heed Virginia’s advice or Sanders’ caution ; she hurried 
on, panting, and clinging to Sanders’ arm. 

The men, who were accustomed to the hill, gained rapidly 
on them, singing some rollicking song as they came, and as 
they approached Kitty’s terror increased, and she hurried 
Sanders on up the steep, slippery hill. Still the men came 
nearer and nearer, and it was evident the women could not 
escape them. 

“ Let us stop and wait till they have passed,” said Vir- 
ginia, falling behind, for she was getting quite out of breath. 


248 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


“ No, no ; come on, Vi ; come on," cried Kitty, scrambling 
on and dragging Sanders with her. 

“ I can’t keep up," murmured Virginia, who was now 
some ten paces below Kitty and Sanders, and the men were 
close on her heels. She held her umbrella close down so 
that they could not see her face, and to her relief they rolled 
past her, contenting themselves with shouting out some 
coarse compliment. Virginia stopped as soon as they were 
past and gasped for breath, but the next moment she heard 
them shout out, “ Your money or your life ! " 

One man danced in front of Sanders and Kitty with his 
arms wide open, so that if they advanced they must run into 
them, while the other remained behind doing exactly the 
same, so that if they turned round to retreat they would 
rush into his arms. 

The men with their red clothes and red faces and hands 
looked like two demons as they shouted and laughed and 
leapt. Kitty clung screaming to Sanders, who indignantly 
struck the man in front of her with her own substantial 
umbrella ; at the same moment he caught his foot in some 
tangle of briars and brushwood, and fell backward into 
the undergrowth of the wood they were skirting. 

His companion, who was apparently undesirous of sharing 
the same fate, ran past Sanders and Kitty into the wood, 
while they turned round and looked for Virginia. 

“Let us go down and meet the others; we can run down 
the hill fast enough, Sanders," said Virginia, taking hold of 
Kitty’s other arm and hurrying her on. 

“ I think we had better ; those men won’t trouble to come 
down the hill after us,” said Sanders. 

Kitty, who was sobbing and shaking with fright, managed 
to go down the hill, until they were well out of reach of the 
men, who did not attempt to follow them, when her strength 
and courage failed, and she begged Virginia to go on and 
fetch the others, while she waited with Sanders on some 
felled trees, as she felt too ill to walk another step. 

“ Are you afraid to go. Miss Virginia ? " said Sanders. 

“Not in the least; those wretches were only trying to 
frighten us. I’ll run on till I meet the van," said Miss Wil- 
loughby. 

She had not gone very far before she met Sir Claude and 


IN THE RAIN. 249 

Jack, walking by the side of the van, in which were two 
horses. 

“Why have you been so long? I am so glad you have 
got another horse. We have been frightened by some tipsy 
miners, and Kitty is too ill to go any further, so I came 
back. We were nearly at the top of the hill,” said Virginia 
when she reached Sir Claude. 

“ Tipsy miners ! Where are they ? I’ll sober them,” said 
Sir Claude, his fine eyes flashing with fire. 

“ What fun ! I hope we catch them ; we will teach them 
a lesson,” said Jack, cracking his whip. 

“ How tired you must be, my queen. Get on to the box ; 
you shan’t walk another step,” said Sir Claude. 

“ Not unless you do ; this hill is very bad for your foot,” 
said Virginia ; and as Jack maintained the horses would 
easily pull them both up the hill, the lovers got on to the 
box seat. 

It was still raining heavily, and Virginia told Sir Claude 
she thought that as Kitty was so ill, and the weather so bad, 
they must give up the van at Monmouth and send it back 
to London. 

“ Well, if you decide to do that I'll go to Greenhouse at 
once and ask your father’s consent to our engagement. I’ll 
spare Alec if possible, but I mean to insist on your return- 
ing with Kitty. If General Willoughby raises any objection 
I shall tell him the truth. I mean Lady Lawrence to be 
like Caesar’s wife — ‘ above suspicion,’” said Sir Claude. 

“ I think you mean Lady Lawrence to be a very meek, 
submissive wife,” laughed Virginia. 

“ I have not seen any signs of that at present, but there 
is no telling what virtues she may develop under my guid- 
ance. 

“ You mean to be the guide, then ; you the leader, I the 
led. Is that to be it ? ” 

“ I mean to see that you don’t sacrifice yourself too much 
to others, and I don’t mean the future Lady Lawrence to go 
about the country disguised as a gypsy, telling the fortunes 
of strolling artists. I am going to nip that in the bud.” 

“ You have done so already ; but if the future Lady Law- 
rence had not disguised herself you might never have had 
the pleasure of knowing her. She did not stoop to conquer, 


250 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


but she conquered in stooping,” said Virginia as they 
reached the trees on which Kitty and Sanders were sitting. 

Kitty, who was wet through, was leaning against 
Sanders, who was trying to shelter her from the rain ; she 
looked flushed and feverish, and was shivering as if she had 
ague. They lifted her into the van, and Sanders got in with 
her, and took off her wet clothes, and made some hot coffee. 
The others walked till they reached the top of the hill, when 
they got on to the box and Sir Claude drove his team into 
Monmouth. 

They saw no more tipsy miners ; indeed, when they were 
on the Monmouth road, they had too much to do — Sir 
Claude in preventing his leader from turning round, the 
others in admiring the glorious scenery — to look for anything 
else. Nothing is wanted to make this three miles one of 
the most beautiful drives in England : in the middle distance 
are the brown woods with the silver Wye winding through 
the valley ; beyond, the Cotswold and Malvern Hills ; and 
beyond these the blue outline of the Welsh mountains. 

In spite of the rain and the gray clouds the scenery was 
grand and beautiful ; nay, because of them the artistic eyes 
of Virginia and Sir Claude caught some lovely effects of 
mist and cloud. 

The van created quite a sensation as they drove into 
the quiet streets of Monmouth, but the rain prevented 
a crowd from assembling to see the inmates get out. 

Sir Claude decided he should not go to the same hotel as 
the girls and Sanders, and Virginia, though she pretended to 
be amused at his precaution, knew he was right, so she dined 
alone in solitary state at her hotel, for Kitty went straight 
to bed, and, indeed, seemed so ill that they sent for a doctor 
in the evening. 

Sanders was up all night with her, and Virginia wrote a 
long letter to her mother, telling her of Kitty’s illness and 
her own engagement. The next day Kitty was worse, and in 
the afternoon she seemed so seriously ill that Virginia tele- 
graphed to her father to come at once. 

Kitty had taken cold in the rain, and owing to her weak 
state it had settled on her lungs, and she was now suffering 
from inflammation of the lungs. The fever ran very high, 
and before the general arrived she was delirious, 


“ THOSE DREADFUL GIRLS!" 


251 


CHAPTER XXVII. 

“ THOSE DREADFUL GIRLS ! ” 

General Willoughby, domestic tyrant as he was, lived 
in secret awe of his wife ; she really “ ruled the roost,” 
though he appeared to do so. Things are not always what 
they seem to be. Facts sometimes lie. “ What is truth ? ” 
said Pilate. “ Where is truth ? ” cries every human heart, 
and echo answers, “ Where ? ” 

Since he dismissed Virginia so summarily he had been 
made to feel the weight of Mrs. Willoughby’s displeasure ; 
she treated him like a naughty child, so that at the end of 
a month he began seriously to consider who was the real 
culprit, his daughter or himself. 

Mrs. Willoughby’s method of showing her displeasure was 
somewhat indirect, but it was not the less successful on that 
account. She had less backbone than ever, but she made 
it evident that it was the general who had robbed her of 
this important part of her material self. She was not dis- 
posed to talk except when Alec or visitors were present, and 
then she was voluble enough ; with the general she con- 
fined herself to monosyllables. 

She was perverse ; if he suggested a drive she wished to 
stay at home, and vice versd. Nothing the poor man sug- 
gested was right ; and if he ventured to inquire for Virginia 
and Kitty her manner at once became most crushing ; the 
thermometer which gauged her manners then sunk from 
freezing point to zero ; the information she gave was as 
scanty as possible, and accompanied by the reproach that he 
did not deserve to have a daughter since he did not know 
how to treat one. 

By the time Alec returned from his visit to the artist the 
general found himself between the horns of a dilemma : on 
the one hand he wished to forgive Virginia and have her 
home at the end of the tour ; on the other hand he could 
not receive this parson, who had been making secret love to 
her, as his son-in-law, and he was under the impression that 
on no other terms would Virginia acknowledge her fault. 

His wife watched narrowly for any signs of relenting, and 


252 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


was of opinion that before the tour was over he would 
authorize her to tell Virginia she might return with Kitty. 

Mrs. Willoughby was only less angry with her son than 
with her husband, but it was to her interest to conceal her 
anger from him, as if he suspected the truth he would cer- 
tainly tell his father he was the culprit, and then — after that 
the deluge. 

“ Mother,” said Alec the day he came back from Glouces- 
tershire, “ why did not you tell me Vi and Kitty were trav- 
eling in a gypsy van, and what possessed you to allow them 
to do so ? ” 

Mrs. Willoughby answered by asking another question in 
true feminine fashion. 

” How do you know they are doing so ? ” 

“ Because I have just been staying with Lawrence, who is 
rusticating, and to my amazement I found the gypsy he had 
been raving about was Vi, whom I met dressed like a gypsy 
on the common the evening I arrived.” 

Met Virginia? Then you have been with poor Kitty 
this last week, dear ? ” 

“ Kitty was there ; but what made you let them do it, 
mother ? ” said Alec moodily. 

“ I thought it would do poor little Kitty good, as she frets 
so about you, and Virginia persuaded me ; but it is very 
annoying that they should have come across Sir Claude 
Lawrence.” 

“ I don’t know so much about that ; he is over head and 
ears in love with Vi, and the beauty of it is she believes him 
to be only a poor artist, yet she is inclined to accept his 
attentions. Certainly there is no accounting for the vagaries 
of women. He promised me to look after the girls, so per- 
haps the best thing you can do is to leave them alone for 
the present. He is a charming fellow, very rich, and even 
Vi could hardly do better than become Lady Lawrence.” 

“ Are you sure he means anything ? ” said Virginia’s 
mother anxiously. 

“ He certainly means to ask her to marry him ; but, 
although it has turned out all right, I wonder, my dear 
mother, that you, who are so particular, should have allowed 
them to do it.” 

“ Sir Claude Lawrence in love with Virginia ! This is 


“ THOSE DREADFUL GIRLS!'* 253 

news indeed. What will your father say? You must not 
tell him, Alec, or he will order them home immediately and 
spoil Vi’s fun. How is Kitty ? I suppose she was enchanted 
to see you ? ” 

“ Kitty is not very well. The truth is, mother — for you 
may as well know it — it is all off between Kitty and me,” said 
Alec, standing leaning against the chimney-piece, with his 
hands in his pockets, looking at the hearthrug. 

What foolery is this, Alec ? Have you and Kitty had 
a lover’s quarrel ? ” said Mrs. Willoughby, sitting bolt 
upright in spite of her lack of backbone. 

“No, we have not quarreled, and we are no longer 
lovers,” said Alec. 

“ No longer lovers ! Do you mean to tell me you are not 
going to marry Kitty as soon as she is of age ?” 

“ I mean what I say, mother. Kitty and I will never be 
more to each other than we are now — almost brother and 
sister.” 

“ Then pray how do you propose to live ? ” 

“ Not on Kitty’s money. I hope a nobler destiny than 
that is in store for me.” 

“ Pshaw ! Have you jilted Kitty, Alec ? ” 

“ No, mother. My father, as you know, forbade our 
engagement ; since then I have met and loved another girl, 
and I have told Kitty I can never marry anyone else.” 

“ Loved another girl ! Whom, pray ? Someone without 
a penny, of course ? ” 

“ Yes, I believe she is penniless ; I never asked, but I feel 
sure she is ; but, for all that, I shall never marry unless I 
marry Lily Vaughan.” 

“ Lily Vaughan ! Surely, Alec, you don’t mean one of 
those dreadful Vaughans at The Cottage ?” exclaimed Mrs. 
Willoughby in a tone of horror. 

“ Yes, I mean that Lily Vaughan, though why you should 
call the Vaughans dreadful people when you have chosen one 
i)f them as an escort for Vi and Kitty I don’t know.” 

“ The boy is by far the best of the bunch. He is a nice, 
gentlemanly fellow, but the mother is simply impossible, and 
the girls are in my opinion dreadful ; they are very fast, and 
not at all well brought up.” 

“You are quite wrong, mother ; they have lived in Jersey, 


254 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


and therefore are not so stiff as ordinary English girls ; but 
you may take my word as an officer and a gentleman there 
is nothing fast about either of them. I have had every 
opportunity of judging. I know them intimately, and I have 
seen them under all kinds of circumstances, and certainly I 
never saw nor heard either of them do or say anything 
I should object to seeing my own sister do. I don’t say 
Virginia would do many things Miss Vaughan does, but 
then Virginia’s standard is a very high one.” 

“ That is more than Miss Vaughan’s is,” interrupted Mrs. 
Willoughby. 

“ Lottie is a thoroughly domestic girl, and would make an 
excellent wife, though she has any amount of go in her. 
As we say of a mare, she has plenty of spirit, but no vice in 
her ; and as for Lily, if I can succeed in winning her forgive- 
ness, after the manner in which 1 deceived her about Kitty, 
I shall consider myself the happiest man on earth,” said 
Alec. 

“ Humph ! Does Vi know this, pray ?” 

“ Yes, but Vi shares your prejudice against the girls. How- 
ever, for Jack Vaughan’s sake she will, I think, do all she 
can for me if my father should object.” 

“Your father will be simply furious, and in all probabil- 
ity turn you out of the house when he knows it.” 

“ Well, until Lily forgives me, if she ever does, there is 
no need to tell him. If he chooses to try to ruin my pros- 
pects for life he can do so. I shall not be ruined. I shall 
not leave the army if he stops my allowance. I shall starve 
on my pay till I get the adjutancy, that’s all.” 

“ All, indeed ! It is nothing to you, I suppose, to have 
broken your mother’s heart ? Leave me, Alec, please, but 
understand this : if you choose to engage yourself to one of 
those dreadful girls I shall cut them both.” 

“ You can please yourself, mother,” said Alec as he 
stalked out of the room, leaving Mrs. Willoughby to digest 
the news he had just told her. 

It took a great deal of digestion, for Alec had upset the 
darling scheme of her life ; he had further proved his father 
was quite right in having refused to sanction his engage- 
ment to Kitty, and he had announced his intention of mak- 
ing an undesirable marriage. Even Mrs. Willoughby dared 


“ THOSE DREADFUL GIRLS U' 255 

not call it a mesalliance, but it was none the less bitter on 
that account. 

Work well, like most country towns whether set on a hill 
or in a valley, was a place where the doings of its inhabitants 
could not be hid, so in the 90urse of a few days Alec’s flir- 
tation with Lottie became known to his mother, and though 
she did not for a moment suppose he had transferred his 
affections from the younger sister to the elder, it increased 
her anger against him and those dreadful girls tenfold. 

She attacked him on the subject the day he came in from 
his first interview with Lily. 

“ Alec, your conduct is positively disgraceful. I under- 
stand you are now carrying on a flirtation with that dread- 
ful Miss Vaughan, the elder girl. I wonder she does not 
know better than to be guilty of such bad form as to be 
walking about the town with you. If those are Jersey man- 
ners I prefer English. Do you intend to engage yourself to 
both sisters ? ” 

“ Nonsense, mother ; Miss Lottie and I perfectly under- 
stand each other. She is much too clever a young woman to 
throw herself away on a penniless sub, and much too good 
a girl to attempt to cut out her sister. I owe my present 
happiness in a great measure to Lottie, and I won’t hear a 
word against her.” 

“ What happiness, pray ? The happiness of breaking 
your mother’s heart ? ” 

It never seemed to occur to Mrs. Willoughby that 
Kitty’s heart was much more likely to be broken by Alec’s 
conduct than hers. 

“ The happiness of having won Lily’s love as well as her 
forgiveness. She has promised to be my wife.” 

Mrs. Willoughby was too much upset by this news to be 
capable of making a reply ; she fell back on her pillows, 
covered her face with her handkerchief, and appeared to sob 
spasmodically, while Alec cut short the scene by leaving the 
room to go in search of his father. 

To do so was to jump from the frying pan into the fire, he 
knew, but he thought he might as well have the row over 
immediately, since a row there must be. 

He found the general in his den engaged in making arti- 
ficial flies ; the window was wide open, and as Alec opened 


256 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


the door and created a draught, the wind caught some of 
his silks and feathers, and roused the good man’s irritable 
temper. 

“ Shut the door, Alec ; dash it all, what the dash do you 
mean ? ” exclaimed the general, only dash was not exactly 
the word he used. 

“I am very sorry; I didn’t know what you were doing,” 
said Alec, proceeding to pick up the scattered silks and 
feathers, while the general continued to fuss and fume. 

‘‘ Hadn’t I better shut the window in case anyone else 
should come in ? ” said Alec, suiting the action to the 
word. 

“ What do you want, interrupting me when I am, as you 
see, so busy? ” 

“ I liave something important to say to you or I should 
not have ventured to intrude,” said Alec. 

It was not an opportune moment in which to make the 
communication Alec had braced himself up for. The gen- 
eral would, no doubt, be relieved to hear his son no longer 
imagined himself in love with his ward, but he would hardly 
be pleased to hear he was already engaged to someone 
else, though, no doubt, he would chuckle over his own 
acuteness in having foreseen his son would soon tire of 
Kitty. 

‘‘ Important, indeed ! You want your allowance 
increased, I suppose. If so you may save yourself the 
trouble of asking, for I tell you plainly I can’t and I 
won’t allow you another penny,” said the general, endeav- 
oring to mount a fly he had just manufactured on to 
some fine wire — a delicate task which required niuch 
nicety. 

“ No, sir ; I am quite satisfied with what you are kind 
enough to allow me,” said Alec. 

“ Umph ! What scrape are you in now ? ” 

Not any. I came to tell you everything is quite at an 
end between Kitty and me.” 

“ At an end ! Of course it is at an end. Didn’t I put an 
end to everything two or three months ago ? There ought 
never to have been a beginning to such tomfoolery.” 

“ I quite agree with you, sir, and I am very sorry there 
ever was.” 


“ THOSE DREADFUL GIRLS! 


257 


The general began to feel puzzled. What was the mean- 
ing of this sudden revolution in his son’s feelings ? His 
equanimity was disturbed, and he made a bungle of his 
fly. 

“ I wish you would not come plaguing me when I am 
busy. Is that all you have to say ? If so you can go and 
leave me in peace.” 

“No, it is not all. Father, I have come to tell you I am 
engaged to Miss Lily Vaughan ; and as my whole future hap- 
piness is involved in this engagement, I hope you will give 
your consent.” 

“ Oh, indeed ! Well, I can’t say I am surprised, because 
none of your love escapades would surprise me. As to your 
whole happiness being involved in it, why, you came to me 
three months ago with the same tale about Kitty. I was 
not fool enough to believe in it then. I am hardly likely to 
believe in it now, seeing I am not in my dotage.” 

“ It is true whether you believe in it or not. I did not 
expect you to believe me,” said Alec in a tone that forced 
the general to believe he was in earnest in spite of himself. 

“ Six weeks hence you will come and tell me you have 
grown tired of Miss Lily Vaughan, and that your happiness 
is bound up in someone else — her sister, perhaps, only she is 
much too sensible a young lady to look at a weathercock 
like you,” said the general. 

“ I acknowledge the justice of your reproaches, sir. At 
the same time I can assure you you will never have to 
reproach me with unfaithfulness again. If I don’t marry 
Lily Vaughan I shall never marry at all.” 

“ What do you propose to live on, may I ask ? The girl 
has not a penny, I suppose?” 

“ She has not, but she has been accustomed to poverty all 
her life, so we can manage on a small income. And she is 
quite young, so she can afford to wait until I am in a posi- 
tion to marry.” 

“ Well, the course I shall pursue is this : when you are 
in a position to marry if you come and ask my consent to 
your marriage with Miss Lily Vaughan — deuced pretty girl 
she is too — I will give it ; until then I’ll have nothing to say 
to it,” said the general. 

“ Thank you, father. I can hardly expect you to say 


258 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


more. If my mother would say as much I should be satis- 
fied ; but perhaps Virginia will be able to persuade her to 
think differently when she comes home.” 

“ Thunder and lightning ! How dare you mention your 
sister’s name to me ? Don’t you know she has deceived me 
grossly ? It is time you did know it. I have forbidden her 
to return home until she has given up that parson to whom 
she is secretly engaged,” said the general. 

“ Vi secretly engaged to a parson ! Vi deceive you ! My 
sister is quite incapable of deceiving anyone ; in all proba- 
bility she is at this moment engaged to my dearest friend, 
Sir Claude Lawrence, who is desperately in love with her.” 

“Virginia engaged to Lawrence ! What are you talking 
about ? She is deceiving you if she told you anything of 
the kind. Didn’t I catch her myself in the field below the 
pulpit in the fellow’s arms, canting hypocrite that he is?” 

“ No, sir, you did not,” interrupted Alec. 

“What! What! What! Do you mean to say I did 
not ? How dare you give me the lie ? I tell you I saw 
Virginia with my own eyes in the fellow’s arms, and I turned 
her out of the house the next day. Kitty went with her to 
avoid giving scandal and to hush it up as much as possible. 
I told Vi then, and I tell you now, that until she acknowl- 
edges her fault, and promises to give him up, she does not 
come back here. Now what have you to say to that, 
pray ? ” 

“You have turned Virginia out of the house,” exclaimed 
Alec in amazement. 

“ Yes, sir, I have ; as I would turn you out if you deceived 
me as she has done,” growled the general. 

“ It is I who have deceived you, God forgive me, and not 
Vi, who is an angel. You have fallen into a most grievous 
mistake, father. The supposed clergyman whom you saw 
with Vi was me disguised. You forbade me to come to 
Greenhouse or Workwell on account of Kitty. I wanted to 
see Lily, so I disguised myself in our chaplain’s clothes and 
came. By an accident I missed seeing Lily, so I strolled 
across the fields and saw Virginia in the pulpit. I beck- 
oned to her to come and speak to me ; the dog recognized 
me, and she came.” 

“ You young scamp, you mean ” began the general. 


THE LAST TRICK. 259 

springing from his seat and banging the table, regardless of 
his flies and hooks, in his excitement. 

“ Stop, sir ; no man, even my own father, shall ever call 
me mean. I give you my word of honor as an officer and a 
gentleman that I never knew of this mistake until this 
moment, when it came like a thunderclap upon me,” inter- 
rupted Alec. 

” I don’t care when you knew it. How — how dared you 
inculpate your sister in this way ? You don’t deserve to 
have such a sister.” 

“ I am quite aware of that.” 

“ Don’t interrupt me ! I — I’ll disinherit you ; I’ll cut 
you off with a shilling. I’ll stop every penny of your allow- 
ance. You leave this house at once, sir, forever, do you 
hear ? ” raged the general, advancing toward his son and 
shaking his fist in his passion. 

Alec stood his ground, and stood calmly awaiting the 
general’s violence when, happily, at that moment the old 
butler entered the room with a telegram on a silver tray, 
which he thrust between his angry master and Alec, appar- 
ently quite unconscious that anything unusual was going on, 
so accustomed was he to the general's rages, and so per- 
fectly was he trained to notice nothing that was outside his 
province. 

A telegram, sir ; is there any answer ? ” 

The general took the telegram, tore it open, and read 
aloud : 

“ The Crown, Monmouth. 

Kitty dangerously ill. Come immediately. 

“ Virginia.” 


CHAPTER XXVIII. 

THE LAST TRICK. 

Lottie had probably never heard of the philosopher 
who said, “ The attractions of man are proportioned to his 
destinies,” that is to say, every desire is a prophecy of its 
own fulfillment ; but, nevertheless, it was a doctrine in which 
she believed most fervently. 


26 o 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


“ Wish for a thing and you are sure to get it, if you only 
wish hard enough,” was the form in which she put Fourier’s 
doctrine to herself. To wish and to will were with her syn- 
onymous terms ; she wished to become George Barrett’s wife, 
she therefore willed to become it, and the chances were, 
supposing Fourier’s doctrine to be true, that she would 
become it. 

All history and all private experience, however, go to 
prove Fourier’s doctrine ts false ; look where we will we 
rarely see the strongest desires of man fulfilled. 

Unfulfilled desire is the secret burden of almost every 
heart that beats. 

There are exceptions to this rule, it is true ; but generally 
speaking it is those who desire the least who obtain the 
most — those whose desires are the weakest who are the most 
easily satisfied. 

Still the probabilities- were in favor of Lottie proving an 
exception to the general rule, and an example of Fourier’s 
doctrine. She was not handicapped by any religious 
scruples, such as go far to prevent the fulfillment of the 
desires of more religious minds, who, ardently as they wish 
for earthly happiness, dare not force the hand of Provi- 
dence, nor wrest the object of their desires from God. 

With Lottie to resolve was to act. No sooner had she 
resolved that her next move was to persuade a certain per- 
son, whose name she dared not whisper even into the ears 
of Sell, to insert a notice of her marriage with George Bar- 
rett in the Times than she acted up to that resolution. She 
found Lily and Alec had adjusted their quarrel among the 
poppies, and, being no longer anxious about them, she felt 
free to turn her attention to her own affairs. 

She shut herself up in her bedroom and wrote a letter, 
which, instead of posting, she carefully locked up in her 
desk ; it was a weight off her mind when written, but, never- 
theless, she was restless and excited all the evening. 

Alec came in after dinner to tell them of the row he 
had just had with his father, of his having been mistaken by 
the general for a lover of Virginia’s, of Virginia’s self-sacri- 
fices, and finally of Kitty’s illness and the telegram which 
summoned the general to Monmouth. 

“Has he gone? ’’asked Lottie when Alec had given a 


THE LAST TRICK. 


261 


graphic description of the scene, and the dramatic entry of 
the butler with the telegram. 

‘‘ He has, or I should not be here to tell the tale. He was 
so upset by Kitty’s illness that he had no time to attend to 
me, so I am going to remain at home for the present. 
Luckily for me my mother refused to be left alone — she is 
nervous at night ; but I’m in for a cheerful week, I can see. 
Her role is to make me feel I killed Kitty. If she dies 
mother will bring it in murder; if she recovers it will be 
manslaughter.” 

“ Well, you have behaved disgracefully to Miss Arundel. I 
quite agree with Mrs. Willoughby,” said Lottie severely. 

“ But, Lottie, Kitty has inflammation of the lungs. How 
can you possibly blame Alec for that ? What nonsense ! ” 
exclaimed Lily. 

“ It is all his fault ; he played fast and loose with her, 
and she played ducks and drakes with her health. I know 
what girls are when they are crossed in love. And let me 
tell you I think General Willoughby has behaved like 
an angel to you both,” said Lottie. 

“Your ideas on angelic conduct differ from mine, then. 
I shall have to turn out of Greenhouse before the Bhap 
returns, angel or no angel ; and if poor little Kitty should 
die he will never forgive me, and my mother will never for- 
give me if she lives and I don’t marry her.” 

“ You won’t marry her,” said Lily with a pretty, authori- 
tative air that became her exceedingly. 

“ Let us hope she won’t die, but live and marry someone 
much nicer than you, Mr. Alec ; we shall hear all about 
her when Jack comes home. I expect he will be back 
to-morrow, and I think I shall go as far as Derby to meet 
him. I have some shopping I want to do there,” said 
Lottie. 

After Alec left Lottie took out her account book and 
a file of bills, and after spending half an hour over them 
said, with a sigh : 

“ Mother, I am sorry to say I shall be under the necessity 
of lending my dearest uncle father’s watch and chain for 
a little while. There is a bill here which will take every 
penny we possess, except the money for the rent and taxes, 
which I dare not touch. Do you mind ? ” 


262 


LOTTIE* S WOOING. 


“ Mind ! Oh, dear Lottie, the shame of this will kill me. 
To think we should have come to such a pass as pawning 
my poor dear’s watch,” 

“ Oh, no, it won’t, mother ; the shame will be mine, as 
I shall have to transact the business, and it won’t kill me. 
I mean to live, and I trust to wed before long, and then 
farewell, a long farewell to all my uncles ! ” exclaimed Lottie, 
embracing her imaginary uncle in so comic a fashion that 
Mrs. Vaughan was forced to laugh. 

The next morning’s post brought a letter from Jack, say- 
ing he was coming back that day. So, soon after breakfast, 
Lottie, with her father’s watch and chain around her neck, 
and the mysterious letter in her pocket, set off, as she said, 
to Derby to meet Jack. 

“ How early Lottie has started. She’ll have half an hour 
to wait at the station,” remarked Lily, glancing at the 
clock as Lottie tripped off. 

Lottie presumably knew what she was about, for on get- 
ting to the station she took a ticket for Chesterfield, which 
was on the down line, while Derby was on the up, and 
jumped into the down train, which had just come into the 
station. 

Jack arrived at The Cottage at about half-past five, 
but he had seen nothing of Lottie, which was not surpris- 
ing, seeing she had been at Chesterfield all day. Mrs. 
Vaughan was alarmed and anxious, but Lily and Jack com- 
forted her by suggesting that Lottie would certainly come 
by the next train — an express which did not stop at Work- 
well, but ran through to Thornleigh, the duke’s station, at 
which all the express trains stopped, and all the Workwell 
J)eople who wished to travel by them went on to Thorn- 
leigh, and then drove or walked back to Workw'ell. 

“ I’ll go and meet her,” said Jack, who was delighted to 
be home again. 

Accordingly he set off, and met I.ottie about half a mile 
from Thornleigh station. 

“You came by the express, I suppose ?” he said after 
they had greeted each other. 

“ Yes,” said Lottie. And so she did, but the express was 
from Chesterfield, not from Derby. 

Now there was no reason why Lottie should not go to 


THE LAST TRICK, 


263 


Chesterfield ; the odd part was that she made a mystery 
about it, and pretended she had been to Derby. 

She was in wild spirits when Jack met her. No doubt 
she was pleased to see him again. She was also glad to 
have some money in her pocket. A heavy purse makes 
a light heart. Lily’s engagement was also a source of joy 
to her, but it seemed to Jack that all these things hardly 
accounted for the exuberance of her feelings. 

Kitty’s illness had sobered him, Virginia’s engagement 
had depressed him, and his anxiety about the result of his 
examination worried him, so he was not “ so fit as he had 
been,” as he expressed it. 

While he was chattering about the delights of living in a 
van they were overtaken by Mr. Barrett, who offered them 
a lift, which Lottie eagerly accepted. 

I have been to Chesterfield,” remarked Mr. Barrett in 
the course of their conversation. 

It was an innocent observation, but it seemed to sober 
Lottie, or at any rate it gave her pause in which to reflect 
on the chances of his having seen her either coming out of 
a certain shop with three golden balls above it, or at the 
post office, for certainly he was the last person in the world 
she would have wished to see her at either of these useful 
institutions. 

‘‘ Have you and Barrett quarreled, Charlotte ? ” said Jack 
when Mr. Barrett dropped them at The Cottage. 

“ My dear boy, no ; what in the name of fortune put that 
into your head ? We are the very best of friends,” said 
Lottie with a conscious little laugh as they entered the house. 

Here they w.ere greeted by Lily with an open letter in her 
hand, which she begged Lottie to read immediately. 

Lottie took it and read aloud as follows : 


“Dear Madam: “Greenhouse. 

“ My son informs me he has engaged himself to your 
youngest daughter. I need scarcely say the marriage will 
never take place with my sanction nor General Wil- 
loughby’s, nor, I should think, with yours, unless you wish 
your daughter to starve, for my son has absolutely nothing 
but his pay, and in the event of his carrying out his mad 
proposal will never have any other means. 


264 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


“ Under these circumstances I trust you will co-operate 
with me in putting a stop to so undesirable a connection. 
For the present at least I wish that all intercourse between 
the two families should cease, with this exception — I should 
like to see your son on his return, to hear the latest account 
of my dear adopted child’s sad state. 

“ Yours faithfully, 

“ Margaret Willoughby.” 

“Well, upon my word, what insolence! We are cuts, 
are we ? Very well, Mrs. Willoughby ; two can play at that 
game ; but let me tell you you don’t know Jack if you don’t 
choose to know us. You don’t go near the old cat. Jack. 
Let her find out how her dear adopted child is as best she 
can. Why does not she go and nurse her instead of writ- 
ing insolent letters and whining about her backbone ? ” 
exclaimed Lottie angrily. 

“ Go it, Charlotte. I like to see your little angry passions 
rise,” said Jack. 

“ What shall we do, Lottie ? Shall we answer the letter ? ” 
said Lily. 

“Certainly not. Treat it with silent contempt, and cut 
her dead the next time we see her ; and as for you. Jack, 
avoid her as you would the plague.” 

“ All right ; anything for a quiet life. All I know is I 
shan’t cut Miss Willoughby nor the general, and I am per- 
fectly certain they won’t cut any of us.” 

“ We will leave them to take the initiative, and do to them 
as they do to us. I only wish Lil could come into a fortune. 
I’d give half mine if I had one to see Mrs. Willoughby’s 
face then,” said Lottie, who seemed strangely restless all 
that evening and all the next day. 

Jack returned on Thursday, and on the following Satur- 
day morning as George Barrett took up the newspaper his 
own name caught his eye among the marriages as he 
glanced at the obituary sheet. He could scarcely believe 
his own eyes as he read the following announcement : 

“On Thursday, the 30th inst., at the parish church, 
Workwell, Derbyshire, by the rector, assisted by the Rev. 
E. Short, curate, George Barrett of Dellfield to Charlotte 


THE LAST TRICK. 


265 


Mary (Lottie), eldest child of the late Captain Vaughan, 
R. N., and of Mrs. Vaughan of The Cottage, Workwell.” 

Once, twice, three times George Barrett read this 
announcement, until the letters seemed burned into his 
brain ; then he rose and strolled up and down his office, with 
his hands in his pockets, apparently lost in thought. 

Every now and then he paused and glanced at the paper 
again, as if to assure himself that he was not dreaming. 

No, there it was in print ; he was awake, sober, and in 
his right mind. There was no doubt about it — there it was ; 
but who could have put it there ? 

That was the question which was exercising George Bar- 
rett’s mind. 

Workwell was a gossiping place, like most country towns, 
but as far as he knew his name had never been coupled 
with Lottie’s by the local gossips, nor had he done anything 
to give rise to such a report. 

Clearly the announcement was a hoax, but from whom 
did it emanate ? 

Did George Barrett suspect anyone ? 

Lottie herself could not have told by her sphinx’s face 
what he thought or felt about it. For half an hour he paced 
the room, and then suddenly seated himself at the writing 
table, and wrote out a telegram, which he dispatched imme- 
diately to the editor of the paper, saying the announcement 
of his marriage was a hoax, and requesting him to keep the 
original copy and the envelope containing it until he called 
upon him. 

Then he marked the marriage with red ink, tied up the 
paper, directed it to Lottie, and sent a boy to The Cottage 
with it. 

He had hardly done this before in rushed Mr. Short to 
ask what the advertisement meant. 

“ It means it is a hoax ; it also means I am going up to 
London at once to try and trace the perpetrator. If you’ll 
kindly contradict the report here I shall be obliged. I can 
catch the express, and the sooner I am off the better ; I 
shall have all the county in to congratulate me. Come 
across to*my rooms and help me to throw some things into 
a portmanteau. Short.” 


266 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


“ Poor Miss Vaughan ! It is a terrible thing for her. 
What an abominable shame it is ! She is such a nice girl ; 
I am very sorry for her. It is a scandalous thing to do,” 
said Mr. Short. 

It is,” said Barrett. 

“There was no rhyme nor reason for it neither, was 
there? I never heard your names coupled together. I 
wonder who can have played you such a scurrilous trick,” 
continued the curate, whose private opinion was that Mr. 
Barrett was not acting very chivalrously in rushing away 
from Workwell and leaving Lottie to face the scandal alone ; 
but then he reflected Mr. Barrett’s natural instincts were 
plebeian, and in moments of excitement he was sure to act 
upon them. 

The curate packed his friend’s portmanteau and saw him 
off by the train, and then he went to The Cottage and asked 
to see Mrs. or Miss Vaughan, to express his indignation and 
sympathy at the cruel joke which had been played upon 
them. 

Lottie was sitting in the morning room with her mother 
and Jack when the newspaper was brought in to her. She 
opened it with trembling fingers almost immediately, and 
blushed crimson as she read the announcement of her mar- 
riage. 

A born actress was Lottie Vaughan. She gave a little 
shriek when she had read it, and fell back in her chair, 
dropping the paper on to the ground. 

“Good gracious, Lottie, what’s the matter?” exclaimed 
Mrs. Vaughan. 

“ Hallo, Lottie ! What’s wrong ? Has Uncle Vaughan 
departed this life?” exclaimed Jack, picking up the 
paper. 

“ Great Scott ! Yes, he has, mother, by all that’s unex- 
pected. Listen : ‘ On the 28th, at Vaughan Park, Henry 

Vaughan, Esq., suddenly, aged 67 ’ Hallo ! Lottie is 

fainting,” said Jack, ringing the bell. 

“ It was not that she saw ; it was the marriages she was 
looking at. Give me the paper,” said Mrs. Vaughan. 

Jack knew how to deal with fainting fits ; he laid Lottie 
flat on the floor, and undid her waistband, and was rewarded 
by seeing her open her eyes, when his mother attracted his 


THE LAST TRICK. 267 

attention by suddenly bumping down on a chair with 
a scream. 

“ Merciful Providence ! What does it all mean ? Look, 
Jack. Lottie is married,” she said. 

“Lottie married ! ” exclaimed Jack in amazement. 

“ Lottie married ! ” echoed Lily, who, with Alec Wil- 
loughby, now appeared on the threshold. 

Jack seized the paper again, saw the red ink mark, and 
the three young people put their wise heads close together 
and read the announcement, while Lottie gasped and sobbed, 
and finally called out in broken accents : 

“ 1 am not married. It is a wicked, wicked hoax.” 

“ A hoax ? I wonder if Uncle Vaughan’s death is a hoax 
too. I expect it is. I suppose whoever put it in thought he 
might as well tell two lies as one when he was about it,” 
said Jack. 

Lottie raised herself a little from her lowly position, until 
her head was on a level with a low chair, in which she 
buried it, and then began to sob wildly. 

“ I say, Lottie, don’t cry so for Uncle Vaughan. Poor 
old man, it is very sad, but we never saw him ; besides, per- 
haps it is a hoax, like your marriage,” said Jack. 

“ Bother Uncle Vaughan ! I don’t care a pin whether he 
is dead or alive. All I care is I have been made a fool of. 
I shall never dare to show my face in Workwell again, never. 
I shall be the laughingstock of the place. It is a cruel, 
cruel, cruel trick,” said Lottie, with a sob between every 
word. 

“ So it is ; but cheer up, Charlotte ; it is no fault of yours. 
I’ll horsewhip the scamp that did it if only we can discover 
him ; so will Barrett, no doubt,” said Jack. 

“ So will I ; so the rascal will have a warm time. What 
does Barrett say ? Does he know ? ” said Alec. 

“ Yes, he knows ; he sent the paper. He will be here him- 
self directly, I expect,” said Jack. 

“ I won’t see him if he comes. I’ll never see him again. I 
won’t see anyone,” said Lottie, rising from the floor. 

Her distress and shame were not altogether affected ; they 
were a trifle overdone, perhaps, but at that moment she 
really felt she would rather die than meet George Barrett. 
By degrees she became calmer, and, taking up some knitting. 


268 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


sat down and tried to knit, for she was never idle ; it was 
torture to her to sit with her hands before her, and she 
rarely opened a book. 

The family continued to discuss the hoax, and to try and 
guess who had played them such a trick, when Mr. Short 
arrived, and Mrs. Vaughan waddled away to receive him, 
Lottie refusing to do so. 

Presently Mrs. Vaughan returned with the news that Mr. 
Barrett had gone to London to endeavor to discover where 
the notice was posted, and thus gain some clew to the dis- 
covery of the culprit. 

This news did not tend to comfort Lottie, nor to raise her 
spirits. She went to her own room on hearing it, and, throw- 
ing herself face downward on the floor, gave way to a fit of 
hysterical weeping, while Sell sat by her side sniffing and 
licking her ears, and occassionally rubbing his nose under 
her chin. 

“ O Sell ! Sell ! where can I hide my diminished head ? 
He has gone away, and left me to face the disgrace and 
humiliation alone. He will go for a holiday until it has 
blown over, or perhaps he’ll resign the agency and keep 
away forever. I didn’t calculate on this as the result of my 
dernier ressort ; it is the most ghastly failure of all. I wish 
I could die. I really do. I should like to die a nice, pain- 
less, easy death. Oh, dear Sell ! what a pity it is we have 
not the option of living or dying. It is a horrid world ; we 
are brought into it without being asked if we should like to 
come, and however we may hate being in it we are not 
allowed to leave till Providence sends to fetch us. Sell, 
dear, it is lucky for you you are a dog and not a girl.” 

Sell wagged his tail complacently at this congratulation, 
and his mistress continued : 

“ I wonder if there is any harmless way of ceasing to be. 
I mean any innocent way of leaving off living. There is 
starving yourself, as Jack says Miss Arundel did, but it 
seems to me rather mean, and quite as wicked as taking 
poison. No, Sell, your mistress is not pious, but she can’t 
see any means of leaving this world till the Angel of Death 
comes and calls her, and he is a gentleman who won’t be 
beckoned to. I can’t die yet. I must live — live it down. 
Sell. But, O Sell ! Sell ! Sell ! it is not the shame, it is 


THE LAST TRICK. 


269 


not the disgrace, it is not the being laughed at that I mind 
— I don’t care a fig for all that ; it is the not winning him 
when I love him.” 

Here Lottie buried her face in her hands, and sat for 
some time down on the floor in silence ; then she got up 
and went to the looking-glass, and stared at her red, swollen 
features all disfigured by weeping. 

“ He does not care for me, and on reflection I am not sur- 
prised at it,” she muttered, with a bitter little laugh at her 
own wit. 

She kept in her own room for the rest of that day, partly 
to avoid the stream of visitors who came to inquire the 
truth of the report, and offer their congratulations if true, 
and their condolences if false ; partly because, as she said, 
she was not fit to be seen. 

The next day she was dreadfully disappointed to find 
there was no letter for her from Mr. Barrett, though she had 
hardly dared to hope for one. 

After breakfast, instead of ordering the dinner, and feed- 
ing her chickens, and watering her plants as she usually did, 
she went to the morning room, threw herself into a low 
chair, and proceeded to wind a skein of wool very slowly 
and deliberately. 

“ I say, Lily, Lottie is very bad. I never saw her like this 
before in my life. She has eaten nothing ; she is doing 
nothing ; she says nothing ; there she sits winding and 
unwinding a ball of worsted,” said Jack. 

“ I know ; she won’t order dinner, and I don’t know what 
we are to have. There are her chickens wanting to be fed, 
and I don’t know what to give them, and if I ask her all she 
says is, ‘ My dear child, there is my purse and there are my 
keys ; do exactly what you like, only don’t worry me.’ ” 

“ I wish one of the ceilings would fall down, or that some- 
thing would happen to rouse her. She must be got away 
from Workwell, Lil ; that is very certain. I never saw Lottie 
so cut up in my life,” said Jack. 

“ But how are we to afford it, we are so dreadfully poor ? 
Lottie has not been well since we came here. I don’t think 
the place suits her.” 

“ Perhaps Uncle Vaughan, if he is dead, has left us a 
legacy. If he has we’ll spend it on getting change of air 


270 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


for Lottie. I’ll go and get a paper and see if that marriage 
is contradicted, and if his death is a hoax too,” said Jack. 

While he was gone the second post arrived and brought 
an invitation to his uncle’s funeral for Jack, thus putting all 
doubts as to his death at rest. But even this failed to rouse 
Lottie, and instead of packing his clothes, and looking out 
his trains as she always did for him or any of the family, she 
left him to make what arrangements he pleased, so he 
decided to go to the funeral and return the same day. 

But a change was to come over the aspect of affairs at 
The Cottage before Jack left. That afternoon about six 
o’clock Mr. Barrett called and was shown into the drawing 
room, where Lily and Alec were making love, and were by 
no means pleased at being interrupted at their work. 

‘‘ Mr. Barrett ! Why, I thought you were in London,” 
exclaimed Lily as he entered. 

So I was. I have just returned. Where is your sister ? ” 
said Mr. Barrett. 

“ She is ill,” said Lily. 

“ Indeed. I have come to see her,” said Barrett. 

I am afraid you can’t. She has not seen anyone yet, 
but I’ll go and tell her you are here,” said Lily, preparing to 
go to Lottie. 

” Wait a minute. Say I must see her. Tell her I have 
something very important to say to her,” said Mr. Bar- 
rett. 

” Have you found out who sent that fictitious notice ? ” 
said Alec when Lily was gone. 

Mr. Barrett was a very truthful man, but he was sorely 
tempted to tell an untruth on this occasion. However, his 
conscience would not allow him to do so, and he contented 
himself by answering : 

“ I don’t intend to take any further trouble in the matter. 
Such hoaxes are very difficult to trace, I am told, so I think 
it wiser to let the matter drop.” 

At this point Lily returned with a message. 

“ Lottie is very sorry, Mr. Barrett, but she does not feel 
well enough to see any visitors. Will you write what you 
have to say, please ? ” 

“ No, I will not. Where is she ? ” said Mr. Barrett in 
the brusque tone he often used when moved. 


Lottie jTale coMtrol^ her doom. 2^i 

“ In the morning room.” 

“ All right. I am going to her. I can find the way, 
thanks.” And he walked out of the room, closing the door 
behind him. 

“ Never mind ; let him go,” said Alec. “ We can have 
this room all to ourselves now.” 

“ But Lottie will be furious ; she’ll never forgive me,” 
objected Lily. 

“Furious? Not she. Besides, it is Barrett’s fault, not 
yours,” said Alec. And as Lily was quite as pleased to 
find herself alone with Alec as he was at being left with 
her, they troubled themselves no more about the matter. 

Meanwhile Mr. Barrett strode across the hall to the 
morning room, knocked at the door, and, taking silence for 
permission to enter, opened it, walked in, and closed it 
behind him. 


CHAPTER XXIX. 

LOTTIE HALF CONTROLS HER DOOM. 

Loss of faith in things divine is the saddest tragedy that 
can befall the human soul ; it is death eternal. To lose 
faith in those we love is a lesser tragedy, but it is the death- 
blow of love. To lose faith in ourselves is again less sad, 
but it is fatal to earthly success, for self-confidence is one- 
half of success. 

Lottie had lost faith in herself. 

Her life lately had been like a clock whose pendulum 
oscillates between hope and despair : the pendulum had 
been at the highest point of hope when she played her last 
card ; it was at the lowest depth of despair now she feared 
she had lost the trick. 

How that advertisement came to be inserted in the paper 
was a secret Lottie was prepared to die for rather than 
divulge — at least so she told herself and Sell ; and as she 
sat in the morning room, listless and idle, she felt she would 
rather die than that George Barrett should discover it. 

Possibly his visit to London might put him on the right 
track, but if it did Lottie thought she would know it by his 


LOTTIE'S W0OlN(^. 


face and manner directly she saw him. Just at present he was 
the very last person in the world whom she wished to see, and 
when she heard his step crossing the hall to the room she 
was in she would have jumped out of the low window to 
escape him, but her feet refused to move, and when she 
tried to rise she felt as if she were paralyzed, and fell back 
with her face hidden in the back of her chair. 

She put out her hand as he came toward her and waved 
him away, saying : 

“Go away, please, and leave me.” 

Mr. Barrett drew a chair close to her, sat down, and, taking 
hold of her hand, he said calmly : 

“ I shan’t go away. I have only just come.” 

Something in his manner roused her anger ; she snatched 
her hand away, stood up, and, turning very pale, said with 
trembling lips : 

“ Mr. Barrett, please leave me.” 

There was a dignity about her which did not seem to 
belong to her — it was more like Virginia Willoughby’s air 
than Lottie’s — and though Mr. Barrett’s blue eyes twinkled 
with amusement it altered his manner. 

“ Miss Vaughan, listen to me before you send me away. 
I will go if you really desire it. I will resign my post and 
leave Workwell if you wish it. Sit down for a moment 
and listen to what I have to say.” 

Lottie mechanically obeyed, and he resumed : 

“ I have considered the matter fully, and have come to 
the conclusion that two courses only are open to me. I 
have been to London to try to trace the perpetrator of this 
abominable joke, but I have determined to give that up as 
hopeless. I shall never be able to bring the culprit to 
justice.” 

Lottie breathed freer. 

“That’s by the way. Now for ourselves, the victims. 
Either I must go away from Workwell, since it would be 
most unpleasant for us to meet under existing circumstances, 
or there’s another, and, I venture to think, a better course. 
Do you know what it is ? ” 

“ That I should go instead,” said Lottie, plaiting her 
dress into folds, but carefully keeping her eyes downcast, 
and her face half averted from him. 


LOTTIE HALF COHTKOLA LLER DOOM. ^73 

“ No ; that we should both remain, take the hint of the 
advertisement, and become husband and wife. What do 
you say to that ? ” said Mr. Barrett, leaning forward to try 
and catch a glimpse of her face. 

Lottie said nothing. 

At last it had come, this offer she had schemed so to get. 
The moment of apparently direst failure had turned out to 
be the moment of highest success ; the object of her life 
was accomplished ; her heart’s desire was granted ; the prize 
for which she had toiled, and struggled, and sacrificed too 
much was hers. 

Was she elated ? 

She breathed a little quicker, and Mr. Barrett saw her 
hands tremble ; and the color came and went in her face. 

Was she satisfied ? 

Six weeks ago she would have been ; now it was as though 
someone had offered her an empty cup when she was dying 
of thirst. He was offering her marriage without love, the 
husk of earthly happiness without the kernel. 

“ Lottie, what do you say to my proposal ? ” said Mr. 
Barrett. 

Lottie hastily registered an inward vow that she would 
die rather than betray by word or sigh to this man that she 
loved him ; she scorned herself for loving him, and resolved 
that, suffer as she might, the rack itself should not draw her 
secret from her ; and then she rallied, and then, throwing 
herself back in her chair, answered : 

“ I think it is the most matter of fact one that man ever 
made to woman.” 

“ Perhaps ; but I am neither young nor romantic ; I am 
a plain, outspoken man. Inferior to you in birth, I have 
risen from the ranks, but I have not a relation belonging 
to me. If you marry me you won’t be troubled with 
mother-in-law or sisters-in-law.” 

Lottie lifted up her head, if not her heart, with a gesture 
of thanksgiving at this information. 

“ I can offer you a comfortable home.” 

Lottie thought of the drawing room suite and inwardly 
groaned. 

“ You shall have a carriage and horses ; you shall travel 
if you like. You are not rich ; I am. You are an excellent 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


274 

manager ; I want a wife. In fact it seems to me that we 
are excellently suited to each other. It may not be 
a romantic marriage, but I believe it will turn out a very 
sensible and a very happy one. Will you have 'me ? ” 

Lottie hesitated. Here was the peach ready to fall into 
her palm if only she liked to open her hand and take it. 
Her first inclination was to indignantly refuse, to turn on 
him and demand how he dared insult her by asking her to 
be his wife without one word of love ; but to allow herself 
to do that would be to betray her own feelings, and that she 
was resolved not to do. 

For a minute or two she was silent ; there was a lump in 
her throat which prevented her from speaking ; tears which 
she was determined should not fall prevented her from see- 
ing her phlegmatic lover. Her bosom heaved, her hands 
trembled. She felt hot and cold, and George Barrett, who 
was watching her narrowly, waited patiently for an answer. 

Five minutes, which seemed hours, wasted away, and 
then he spoke again. 

“ Lottie, will you have me ? ” 

Lottie roused herself and, turning toward him, looked up, 
and with her own vivacity at last answered : 

“ Well, you want a housekeeper. The wages are good, the 
place sounds comfortable. I accept the situation. I will 
be Mrs. Barrett. Shall we shake hands upon it ? ” 

Mr. Barrett was nonplussed. She had taken him at his 
word. He had been unromantic and practical. Lottie had” 
been still more prosaic, still more practical. She had 
met him on his own ground. He had not asked for her 
love ; she could not give what he did not ask for. He 
had not offered her love ; she could not accept what he 
did not offer. From her point of view she was perfectly 
justified in treating his proposal in this cavalier fashion, but 
it did not please George Barrett. 

He seized her hand and drew her toward him. 

“ I asked you to be my wife, not my housekeeper,” he 
said, trying to fold her in his arms ; but this was too much 
for Lottie. 

She wriggled away from his grasp, and as he tried to 
catch her, danced in front of him from side to side. 

And I accepted your offer. But no poetry, Mr. Barrett 


LOTTIE HALF COFtTROLS HER DOOM. ±1% 

— no poetry, if you please. You may shake hands with me ; 
if you like you may squeeze my hand ; nay, as we have 
just plighted our troth, 1 will stretch a point and allow you 
to kiss the back of it, but there I draw the line. Ours 
is a strictly prosaic engagement, which does not rhyme 
with kiss or bliss. There are no rhymes, no verses, no 
poetry of any kind about it. Prose is the order of our day. 
Do you understand ? ” 

“I’ll make you understand when I catch you, you little 
witch,” said Barrett under his breath, and there was a light 
in his blue eyes which startled Lottie, and sobered her, and 
came very near to driving her into the arms she was danc- 
ing about to avoid, when at that moment the door opened 
and Jack walked in. 

He found the pair with a gypsy table and a tea tray con- 
taining cups and saucers between them ; had he been a 
second later the table would have been knocked over and 
the tea things smashed, but his entrance prevented this 
catastrophe. 

“1 beg your pardon ; I didn’t know there was anyone in 
here ; Lil and Willoughby are occupying the drawingroom,” 
stammered Jack, who saw he was interrupting a scene of 
some kind. 

“ Come in, dear boy ; Mr. Barrett has something to tell 
you,” said Lottie. 

“ I have just proposed to your sister, and she has accepted 
me,” said Mr. Barrett, as if he were saying, “ The glass is fall- 
ing, and we shall have rain.” 

“ Bravo ! I congratulate you both. Charlotte is not a 
bad sister, and I don’t suppose she’ll be a bad wife. Bless 
you, Lottie ; bless you,” said Jack, throwing his arms round 
his sister and kissing her affectionately. 

“ It will be a settler for that scamp who put the fictitious 
announcement into the paper,” he remarked. 

“Yes, that is precisely why we are doing it ; two heads 
are better than one ; ours is a better joke than his,” said 
Lottie. 

Mr. Barrett bit his lip and frowned, but he did not con- 
tradict her, and Jack afterward confided to Lily that Bar- 
rett and Lottie were the coolest lovers he had ever seen. 

Perhaps if he could have seen Lottie in the privacy of her 


LOTTIE'S WOOlNC. 


276 

own room he would have altered his opinion, as he ulti- 
mately did for other causes. 

No sooner was Mr. Barrett gone than she ran upstairs to 
her bedroom, bolted the door, and, sitting down in front of 
her looking-glass, talked to herself as she had the fashion 
of doing when Sell was not there to talk to. 

“Lottie Vaughan, you have one chance left if you wish 
for the nut as well as the shell, and that is to ‘ let conceal- 
ment feed on your damask cheek like a worm i’ the bud,’ 
while you sit ‘like Patience on a monument smiling at 
grief.’ Smile away, Lottie ; it is becoming ; it shows your 
dimples and your teeth, both of which are very nice, espe- 
cially the teeth.” 

This was quite true, as most of Lottie’s self-criticisms 
were. She was as well aware of her strong points as of her 
weak ones. 

“ If you betray by word or sigh your feelings to this man 
you are a lost woman,” she continued. “ He wants your 
love ; it piques him to think you are only marrying him for 
a home, and to get out of an awkward situation. Lottie, 
make him want ; pique him more and more ; tease, tantalize, 
worry him ; but, oh, never, never tell your love, never let 
him guess the truth ! It is always foolish of a woman to let 
a man see she loves him ; with you it would be suicidal. 
You have the most difficult part of your task yet to accom- 
plish, but ‘ while there is life there is hope,’ says the proverb. 
While there is that look you saw to-day in his eyes there’s 
more than hope — there’s a dead certainty of winning if you 
only go the right way to work.” 

Here there was an impatient scratch of a dog’s paw on 
the door, and Lottie rose and admitted Sell, who jumped up 
and poked his pink and black nose into her hand, and gazed 
at her with his bloodshot eyes. 

“ Sell, dear, the world thinks your mistress has succeeded ; 
the world is a fool. Your mistress knows well enough she 
has much to do yet. Among other things she has to pre- 
tend to be perfectly satisfied, while all the time she is hun- 
gering and thirsting for Bah ! Lottie ! I.ottie ! that 

you should have come to this ! Why, in the name of all 
that is foolish, did you go and fall in love with your future 
husband ? Oh ! the rod you have put in pickle for your 


LOTTIE HALF CONTROLS HER DOOM. 277 

own back, Miss Vaughan, that is, Mrs. Barrett that is to be. 
Sell, let us go downstairs ; if I stay here another minute I 
shall burst out crying, and then I shan’t be fit to be seen.” 

Sell willingly fell in with this proposal, for he privately 
thought all this self- exhortation was exceedingly slow for a 
dog, who, wise as he looked, could not be expected to under- 
stand much about it all. 

On the whole, Lottie’s engagement gave great satisfaction 
to her own family. Mrs. Vaughan was enchanted to think 
her daughter was marrying a rich man ; she cared nothing 
about birth, and was not conscious of the quelque chose qui 
inanque in George Barrett, which something often jarred 
against Lottie’s feelings though she loved him. 

Lily was even more conscious of this failing than Lottie ; 
but she liked and respected Mr. Barrett, and trusted to her 
sister to refine him. Lily could never herself have married 
a man who was not a gentleman by birth, but if Lottie liked 
to do so, why, Lily did not object, particularly as the man 
in question was very well off, and had a good position in 
the neighborhood. 

Jack was exactly of Lily’s opinion, for both he and she 
inherited more of their father’s nature and less of their 
mother’s than Lottie. 

The engagement was known all over Workwell the next 
day. Mr. Barrett took care to publish it, and one of the 
first people to call and congratulate Lottie was Miss Savage, 
who came round in the morning soon after Jack had started 
for his uncle’s funeral. 

No woman really likes to see a man she has refused her- 
self engage himself to another woman ; but Miss Savage 
concealed any objection she might have felt at seeing Lottie 
step into her shoes very successfully, and sang Mr. Barrett’s 
praises loudly. 

“ Were you surprised ? ” asked Lottie. 

“ No, dear, I can’t say I was,” said Miss Savage, with a 
smile which Lottie failed to interpret ; and then she added 
after a moment : 

“ My father always said it would be a match.” 

Now what Mr. Savage always said was not precisely what 
Miss Savage quoted ; no doubt the sense was the same, but 
he put it very differently. “ Barrett will marry that design- 


Lotties woowc. 


27S 

ing girl, or rather he’ll let her marry him,” was what Mr. 
Savage actually said. 

The truth was he considered Lottie had stolen his 
daughter’s lover, and with the penetration the insane often 
show he had seen through all Lottie’s schemes to catch Mr. 
Barrett ; and when he heard of the engagement he deter- 
mined it should never end in marriage if he could possibly 
help it. 

Happily or unhappily for Lottie she knew nothing of this 
resolution, and had she known of it it would not have dis- 
tressed her ; she would only have treated it as the rambling 
of a lunatic. 

James’ time was much occupied in opening the door that 
day to the numerous visitors who called to congratulate 
Lottie. He was just recreating himself with a romp with 
Sell, thinking it was too late for any more callers, when a 
violent ring at the bell sent him again to the door. 

This time it was a telegram, which he duly carried to 
Lottie, Mrs. Vaughan having a dread of telegrams, which she 
said “flustered” her. 

Now when Jack left home in the morning for his uncle’s 
funeral it had been arranged he should stay the night at 
Vaughan Park, and Lottie had impressed upon him the 
necessity of being as economical as possible ; therefore 
when she found the telegram was from him to say he was 
coming home that night she was more surprised than 
pleased. 

“ What does the boy mean by coming home to-night and 
wasting his money on a telegram ? The idea of adding 
“ sit up for me.” Of course I should sit up for him, and sit 
upon him too for being so extravagant,” said Lottie. 

He could not get home till nearly midnight, so Mrs. 
Vaughan went to bed as usual at ten, and the girls sat up ; 
Lily read a novel, and Lottie took out her account books 
and spent the time in making profound calculations as to 
how long their money would last. 

She had just come to the conclusion that if she married 
at the end of September Lily and her mother could manage 
very well till she returned from her honeymoon, when the 
sound of wheels was heard in the road — wheels which stopped 
at the gate of The Cottage. 


LOTTIE HALF CONTROLS HER DOOM. 279 

“ Here is Jack in a fly, I believe ! ” exclaimed Lily, throw- 
ing aside her novel and running into the hall. 

“What does Jack mean? The boy is gone mad, I 
believe, dashing about in a fly when I told him to spend as 
little money as possible. As if he could not have walked 
up, when he knows they charge double after eleven,” said 
Lottie, closing her account books with a little violence. 

Just then Jack’s voice was heard in the hall, and the next 
moment he danced into the room, dragging Lily with him, 
and waltzed round, knocking over tables and chairs like a 
madman, while Lottie stood looking on, speechless for the 
moment. 

Dancing is sometimes an expression of worship. David, 
we know, danced before the ark ; the dervish dances himself 
into an ecstasy ; in fact the art of dancing, so aptly called 
“ the poetry of motion,” is capable of expressing every 
passion of the human soul : religion, fear, love, anger, joy, 
— dancing can express them all. 

But when Jack returned from his uncle’s funeral dancing 
first a waltz and then a hornpipe Lottie was puzzled to 
know what passion he was endeavoring to express. 

It could hardly be anger, or grief, or love, or fear, or 
religion ; and if it were joy why should he evince such 
enthusiastic delight at the death of an uncle who, though a 
stranger, had nevertheless been very kind to him ? 

For a minute Lottie was frightened ; a horrible suspicion 
entered her mind; had Jack taken too much ? Was he tipsy ? 

She caught hold of him in the middle of his mad career 
round the room, and, putting her hands on his shoulders, 
shook him, and peering up into his honest face, said 
anxiously : 

“ Jack ! Are you quite sure you have not taken too 
much wine to-day ?” 

“ Quite. I have only had two glasses of sherry since I 
left here this morning. It is all right, Charlotte,” said Jack, 
encircling Lottie’s thin waist with his arm, and waltzing into 
the hall with her. 

“ Stop, Jack ! Stop ! You’ll wake mother. What on 
earth is the matter ? ” said Lottie, struggling to get free. 

“ All the better if I do. I should not mind being woke 
once a week for such a cause.” 


28 o 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


“ What cause ?” cried Lily. 

My dear girls, Vaughan Park is mine ! Uncle Vaughan 
has left it to me, and cut off George Vaughan, who, I fear, is 
a bad lot, with a shilling,” said Jack, leaping in the air with 
delight. 

“ Oh,” shrieked Lottie, “you don’t mean it ?” 

“ Oh, what fun ! ” cried Lily, clapping her hands. 

“ I do mean it. You see in me the future squire and 
proud owner of our ancestral hall,” said Jack, laying his 
hand on his heart and making a very grand bow. “I 
don’t, of course, come into it till I am of age, but mother 
is to have three hundred pounds a year till then for my 
maintenance, and each of you girls has five hundred pounds 
a year out of the estate.” 

“ Nonsense, Jack ! Five hundred a year each for Lottie 
and me. Oh, how lovely, how perfectly lovely ! ” said Lily, 
joining hands with Jack and dancing away to express her 
delight. 

“Children, children! What is the matter? Have you 
all gone mad ? ” exclaimed Mrs. Vaughan from the top of 
the stairs. 

“ Yes, mother, stark, staring, raving mad. Come down 
and listen. Uncle Vaughan has left Vaughan Park to 
Jack.” 

“To Jack! Well, to be sure! Well! Wonders will 
never cease. I’ll come down as fast as I can.” And for once 
in her life Mrs. Vaughan actually ran into her room, put on 
her dressing gown, and scurried downstairs into the hall, 
where Lottie sat speechless, a prey to many emotions, and 
Jack and Lil were talking incoherently; for words fail us 
when any great passion is roused. 

“ Jack, you don’t mean to say you are the new squire, and 
George Vaughan cut off with a shilling ? ’’said Mrs. Vaughan, 
sinking panting and puffing on to the nearest chair. 

“ I do, mother. Luckily for us the estate was not entailed. 
Vaughan Park, the furniture, plate, horses, and carriages 
are all left in trust for me till I come of age ; five hundred 
pounds a year is to paid to Lottie at once out of the estate 
for the rest of her life, and the same to Lily when she comes 
of age ; till then you are to receive one hundred pounds a 
year for her maintenance, and three hundred pounds a year 


LOTTIE HALF CONTROLS HER DOOM. 


281 


for mine. I am to give up the army and go to college. 
George Vaughan is left to his mother to take care of, so he 
won’t starve, for she has her own fortune and the Dower 
House.” 

“ I shall have to wait till I am of age for my money, then. 
Well, never mind ; I have only a year and a bit to wait, and 
when I get it Alec and I can be married. I wonder what 
Mrs. Willoughby will say to that ? ” exclaimed Lily. 

“ Lottie, what do you say to it all ? ” said Mrs. Vaughan, 
turning to her eldest daughter. 

“Charlotte, why are you silent ? ” said Jack. 

“ Lottie, isn’t it splendid news ? ” said Lily. 

“ I don’t know what to say, mother. I don’t why I am 
silent. Jack. It is too good news, Lil; that is the truth. I am 
so unspeakably thankful not to have to pore over those 
wretched bills, and not to be obliged to pinch and screw 
any more, that I feel more inclined to cry than anything 
else,” said Lottie wearily. 

This was true, but it was not the whole truth. The truth 
was now there was no longer any need for her to marry Mr. 
Barrett for the sake of a home and to help her family she 
began to repent of all schemes for marrying him. Her one 
need now was love, not money; and the means she had taken 
to win the money had, she feared, cut her off from all possi- 
bilities of winning his love. So Lottie’s joy at coming into 
five hundred pounds a year was tempered with repentance. 

After all. Jack was the person most concerned in this 
matter, and Lottie soon roused herself to congratulate him. 

“ Mother, you’ll always live with me, of course, and you 
girls will come whenever you like ; you’ll both be married 
and done for before I am of age, or what fun we could all 
have had. And now we have cooled down a little I should 
not object to some supper if there is anything to eat in 
the house,” said Jack. 

“ My dear boy, yes, of course there is. We will all have 
some supper on the strength of our fortunes. I don’t feel 
inclined for bed,” said Lottie. 

“ Nor I,” said all the others, and they sat up discussing 
the good news till daylight streaked the sky. 


282 


LOTTIE'S WOOING, 


CHAPTER XXX. 

THE FIRST TIFF. 

To bring the story of Virginia and Kitty up to the point 
the rest of this history has reached it is necessary to go back 
a week or two to pick up the dropped thread. 

Sir Claude calculated that the general would get Vir- 
ginia’s telegram about six o’clock on Wednesday evening ; 
that he would, by starting immediately, get to Birmingham 
that night and sleep there, and come on to Monmouth the 
next morning, which was precisely the course the general 
pursued. 

He arrived about midday, and was met at the station by 
Sir Claude and Jack, w-ith the news that Kitty was no 
better, that she was delirious, and only conscious at 
intervals. 

We must telegraph to London for the best advice. If 
anything were to happen to Kitty I should never forgive my- 
self,” said the general, 

“ This local man seems to have his head screwed on the 
right way, and it is a plain, straightforward case, I believe ; 
but if you wish for further advice of course it is easy enough 
to telegraph for another man. I wanted to send fora trained 
nurse, but Sanders would not hear of it,” said Sir Claude. 

“ Of course I will send for a nurse and a London doctor ; 
no expense shall be spared to save that child’s life. It is a 
terrible business, terrible. I had no idea till Virginia’s 
telegram reached me where they were or what they were 
doing. Had I known it I would never have allowed such a 
mad scheme to be carried out. Kitty is much too delicate 
to rough it as they must have done. But when a parcel of 
women put their heads together there is no telling what 
manner of folly they won’t be guilty of. Is this the place 
they are staying at ? Where is Vi ? I should like to see her 
at once,” said the general as the fly stopped at the door of 
the inn, in front of which straw had been strewn to deaden 
the noise of wheels and hoofs. 

Sir Claude led the way into a private room, and leaving 
Jack to go to Virginia, closed the door behind them, 


THE FIRST TIFF. 


283 

“ The truth is, General Willoughby, Virginia and I are 
engaged to be married, subject to your approval. She has, 
consequently, told me of your anger and of the unfortunate 
mistake under which ” 

“ I am no longer laboring,” interrupted the general. “ I 
know all about it ; it was all that young scamp’s doing. He 
told me about it yesterday, and 1 mean to turn him out of 
the house, neck and crop, for good or for evil, if Kitty dies. 
I’ll never forgive him if she dies — never, sir, never,” said the 
general, getting purple with rage, and shaking his fist in the 
air. 

“ Let us hope she won’t die. At any rate this illness is 
hardly Alec’s fault ; Miss Arundel caught cold in the rain 
yesterday. She was evidently more ill than we knew or she 
would not have taken cold so easily, but we can’t blame 
Willoughby for that.” 

“ I do, sir ; I do. She has fretted herself to death about the 
young scamp, who does not care a button for her, and never 
did. I always said so,” said the general, strutting up and 
down the room like a turkey cock. 

“ It is a very unfortunate affair. I only hope that this tour, 
which has been the happiest time in my life, may not end in 
a tragedy. I feel that the moment is not an opportune one 
in which to ask your consent to the fulfillment of my dearest 
hopes, but I felt I must account for my presence here. 
Shall I go for Miss Willoughby ? No doubt you would like 
to see her before you go up to Miss Kitty.” 

The general, who was inwardly dreading his interview 
with Virginia, and anxious to get it over, agreed to this, and 
Sir Claude went to her sitting room, where he found her 
closeted with Jack. 

Poor Jack was not happy. He was very sorry for Kitty, 
and feared that the general, who had taken but little notice 
of him, blamed him for it. He was also, naturally enough, 
rather jealous of Sir Claude, who had quite unconsciously 
taken Jack’s place as the girls’ guardian and escort. 

Virginia had divined his feelings, and had been comfort- 
ing him, assuring him she should never forget how kind and 
attentive he had been. 

“ Be nice to Jack ; he is rather down,” she whispered to 
Sir Claude as she went to obey her father’s summons. 


284 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


“ Vaughan, old fellow, this is a bad end to our tour, isn’t 
it ? It seems to me you managed to take care of them a 
great deal better than I have done since I helped you. I 
am afraid the gypsy queen and I were too much occupied 
with each other to notice how ill she was.” 

“ Do you know. Sir Claude, I think Miss Kitty does not 
want to get well. She has been starving herself till she is 
as weak as a rat. And nothing would induce her to put on 
a cloak yesterday ; and she insisted on walking up that hill, 
though we begged her not to do so. She has told me once 
or twice that she wished to die, and now the chances are 
that she will.” 

Sir Claude looked very grave. 

“ Poor child ! She is so ill now one does not like to say 
anything severe of her ; but if she recovers she ought to be 
watched to see that she is not up to any of these tricks 
again. If fou don’t mind I’ll give Vi a hint to look after 
her,” he said. 

“ I wish you would ; I didn’t like to do so myself,” said 
Jack. 

At this point they were interrupted by the entrance of 
Virginia and the general, both looking flushed and excited, 
and exceedingly happy in spite of their anxiety about 
Kitty. 

“ Sir Claude, you asked me a question just now which I 
had not time to answer ; I’ll do so now,” said the general, 
putting Virginia’s hand into Sir Claude’s. 

“ God bless you both ! If she is as good a wife as she is 
a daughter and a sister you have nothing to fear. She has 
never given me an hour’s anxiety since she was born, 
except what I created for myself, like the donkey I was.” 

“ Hush, Bhap, dear ! We are never to speak of that, you 
know,” said Virginia, leaning her head on her father’s 
shoulder. She had to stoop to do so, for she was taller than 
he was. 

Jack was slipping away, feeling again de trop during this 
little scene, but the general caught sight of him and stopped 
him. 

“ Vaughan, my boy, don’t go. I have not thanked you 
yet for looking after these girls. Virginia tells me she 
does not know what they would have done without you.” 


THE FIRST TIFF. 


285 


He has been a perfect angel. He has never once been 
cross. He has waited on us like a Caliban, amused us like 
a Touchstone, and watched over us like an angel,” said 
Virginia. 

“ 1 shall be jealous if you say any more,” said Sir Claude. 

“ I am very sorry the trip has ended so sadly, general,” 
said Jack, blushing with pleasure like the genuine boy he 
was. 

“Ah ! so am I, but that is no fault of anyone here. Of 
course the trip is over, as far as the van is concerned. It 
had better be sent back at once. As for further plans, I 
shall be better able to make them when I have seen 
Kitty. I imagine it will be impossible to move her at 
present. I should like to see her now, Vi,” said the 
general. 

He was so shocked at the alteration in Kitty, who did not 
recognize him, when he did see her that he sent off at once 
for a specialist from London, and, in spite of Sanders’ 
remonstrances, for a trained nurse, who arrived next day. 

The doctor arrived late that night, slept at the hotel, and 
left the next morning ; his opinion was not very favorable. 
He pronounced Kitty dangerously ill, but professed himself 
quite satisfied with the local doctor’s treatment. He made 
one or two further suggestions, pocketed a big fee, and took 
himself back to London. 

Jack also went home that day, for he could be of no 
further use, and Sir Claude came over to the hotel the 
Willoughbys were at, and spent all the time Virginia could 
spare from the sick room in walking and driving with her. 

The days lengthened into a week, and Kitty still lay at 
death’s door, the general watching her as tenderly as any 
mother could have done. He could always persuade her to 
take food or medicine when, as Sanders scornfully and 
triumphantly said, all the trained nurses in England could 
not have done so. 

Telegrams were sent every night and morning to Mrs. 
Willoughby, whose lack of backbone prevented her from 
coming to help to nurse her ward, to Sanders’ great delight. 
The trained nurse she had submitted to, but Mrs. Wil- 
loughby would have been the last straw. 

“ There is trouble at birth and trouble at death, but 


286 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


there is more trouble over imaginary illness than at 
birth or death. I was with Miss Kitty when she was born, 
and please God I shall be with her when she dies, but 
Heaven preserve us from Mrs. Willoughby,” said Sanders, 
and Heaven granted her prayer. 

For a week Kitty hovered between life and death, and 
then she began to mend ; she turned the corner, and the 
doctor declared she would pull through. The general was 
in excellent spirits on hearing this good news, but as Kitty 
could not be moved for at least another week he decided 
to go home, and come back and fetch her when she was 
well enough to travel. 

He insisted on taking Sir Claude with him to make Mrs. 
Willoughby’s acquaintance. Sir Claude did not at all want 
to go unless Vi went with him, but as he could not remain 
at the hotel after the general left he accepted the invitation, 
and tried to induce Virginia to leave Kitty to Sanders and 
the nurse. 

Vi refused to do this, and their first quarrel arose in con- 
sequence. 

“ Kitty is out of danger ; she can’t go out, and she has 
Sanders and the nurse ; she can’t want you,” urged Sir 
Claude. 

“ But she does want me. She wishes me to stay ; so does 
the Bhap. She would be very dull alone with Sanders and 
the nurse.” 

“Not half so much as you or I without each other. You 
ought to think of me.” 

“ So I do,” said Virginia, blushing. 

“ Not half so much as you do of Kitty, and she does not 
deserve it.” 

“ Claude ! How can you be so uncharitable ?” exclaimed 
Vi. 

“ I am not uncharitable. Miss Kitty is a nice little girl, 
and she has been hardly used, and I am very sorry for her, 
but she brought this illness on herself in a great measure.” 

“ Claude ! You are very unkind to say such things,” 
said Virginia reproachfully. 

“ It is true. She half starved herself in the first place, 
deliberately got wet through in the second, and in the third 
she would get well much quicker if she chose to take more 


THE FIRST TIFF. 287 

nourishment ; the doctor told the general so yesterday. 
She is not strong enough yet to be remonstrated with.” 

“ Remonstrated with ! ” interrupted Virginia. “ Are you 
mad, Claude ? Am I engaged to an ogre ? Do you propose 
remonstrating with me if ever I have the misfortune to be 
ill ? ” 

“ I propose speaking very plainly on the subject to Miss 
Kitty as soon as she is well enough to hear what I have to 
say. Your father and Sanders idolize her, you spoil her and 
sacrifice yourself to her whims, so unless I find somebody 
else who can do it better I shall give her a little gentle 
advice on the subject,” said Sir Claude. 

“ I beg you will do nothing of the kind. Kitty deserves 
nothing but the tenderest treatment from everybody. She 
has suffered terribly, physically and mentally, through 
Alec's fault, and I will not allow a word to be said against 
her, far less to her,” said Virginia, haughtily sweeping out 
of the balcony in which this conversation took place into 
the adjoining room, where the general was reading the 
paper. 

Sir Claude remained outside for about ten minutes, strok- 
ing his fair beard as he was wont to do when disturbed in 
mind ; then he turned and peeped into the room to see 
what Virginia was doing. 

She was sitting in an easy-chair reading, or pretending to 
read, a magazine, with her profile turned toward him, and he 
saw great tears rolling on to her book. This was too much 
for Sir Claude. 

“ What a great, interfering brute I am,” he muttered to 
himself, and he stepped hastily to her side, and, taking one 
of her hands, bent over her and whispered : 

“ Come out again, my queen.” 

Virginia raised her eyes to his, and then somehow their 
lips met, and she rose and with Sir Claude’s arm round her 
stepped outside the French window, the general being too 
much interested in foreign politics to notice the home affairs 
under his eyes. 

“ Have I offended you, my darling ? ” he asked. 

“No; it was I who was wrong, not you,” whispered 
Virginia. 

Sir Claude did not contradict her. Probably he thought 


288 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


she had been the one to blame, for he was not a man to be 
dictated to even by the woman he loved, and Virginia would 
not have loved him if he had been ; but he felt he had been 
somewhat hasty and owed her some apology. 

“Virginia, I will wait till you are convinced I am right 
about Kitty, and then if there is no one else to do it may 
I speak to her ? ” 

“ Yes ; but I think there is someone else who would 
have more influence over Kitty than you.” 

“ Is there ? Who is it ? ” 

“ A Mr. Long, a curate in our neighborhood. He is des- 
perately in love with Kitty, and though she does not care 
for him in that way she values his opinion. If I find Kitty 
is not taking proper care of her health I will tell Mr. Long 
and get him to speak to her ; shall I ? ” 

“ By all means,” said Sir Claude, and thus peace was 
restored, and Virginia won their first battle. 

“ Is Mr. Long very religious ? ” said Sir Claude 
presently. 

“ Not in the least. He is very good ; he is naturally good, 
just as some people are naturally religious. I don’t think 
goodness and religion always go together.” 

“ Nor do 1. There are many good people who are not 
religious, and, I regret to say, many religious people who are 
by no means good. It is a question of temperament. Some 
people have a talent, I might almost call it a genius, for 
religion, just as others have a genius for art.” 

“Yes. Mr. Short, now, has a talent for religion. He is 
a man who would prefer to read a volume of sermons to 
reading a novel ; he would rather sing hymns than dance 
round dances ; he would prefer wrestling in extempore 
prayer to playing football or athletic sports.” 

“In other words, Mr. Short has a genius for religion, 
I suppose.” 

“ Yes. Well, now, Mr. Long has no talent for sermon 
reading, or psalm singing, or extempore prayer. His 
genius lies in quite another direction. He has a talent for 
giving up his time to playing cricket and football with the 
workingmen in his parish, for dancing with wallflowers 
whom no one else will dance with, for buying novels written 
by impecunious authors, and pictures by unknown artists 


THE FIRST TIFF. 289 

whom he knows deserves help. So I call him a good man, 
and not a religious one.” 

“ Well, I think Mr. Long would admonish Miss Arundel 
with more effect than I could. Does he know of her 
illness ? ” 

“ No, I don’t think he does. He is abroad, I believe, 
taking his holiday, or I should have written to him,” said 
Virginia, and here the subject dropped. 

The next day the general and Sir Claude left, and Vir- 
ginia remained to see that Kitty was well looked after. She 
stayed in spite of Sir Claude’s entreaties and her own wish 
to go home, for she could not quite reconcile it to her con- 
science to go home and leave Kitty with Sanders and the 
nurse, much as she would have liked to be at home during 
Sir Claude’s visit. 

It was very dull for Virginia, for Kitty was very weak and 
slept a great part of the day, and when she was awake she 
was not inclined for conversation; indeed she was so apathetic 
and listless that it was almost impossible to rouse her to 
take the slightest interest in anything ; and she made such 
slow progress that poor Vi wondered if she would have to 
spend the rest of her life in a country inn looking after her 
adopted sister. 

Sanders encouraged Kitty to give way to all her tired 
feelings, and having made up her mind her darling was going 
to die of a broken heart, was patiently expecting that climax 
to arrive, and constantly saying : 

“ Miss Kitty would never leave Monmouth unless it was 
in her coffin, for she could not take sufficient nourishment 
to keep a sparrow.” 

“ She could take a great more than she does, and ought 
to be made to do so,” said the trained nurse one day, and 
then there was a pitched battle between the nurse and San- 
ders, and Virginia had to make peace. 

Day after day went by, and Kitty declared when urged to 
get up that she was much too weak to be dressed, and a 
week after the general and Sir Claude left she was still lying 
in statu quo., and had apparently every intention of remain- 
ing there for the rest of her life. 

“ We shall never get her home. What are we to do, nurse ? 
If she is too weak to sit up for an hour or two it will be 




LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


weeks before she is well enough to bear such a long jour- 
ney,” said Virginia to the nurse one day when they were 
out for a walk. 

If I had my way I should get her up and dress her and 
put her into an invalid carriage and take her home ; it would 
not do her any harm. She is not going to die, Miss Wil- 
loughby. She is very weak, no doubt, but if she had any 
wish to get well she would soon get as strong as ever she 
was. When you are out with Sanders to-morrow I’ll see if 
I can’t get her up, and if I succeed we will take her home next 
week. There is no need for the general to come for her, he 
is nearly as bad as Sanders in the way he spoils her. I wish 
he had taken Sanders back with him; we should all have 
been at Greenhouse by now if he had,” said the nurse. 

The next day Sanders and Virginia, who never went out 
of the town alone, went up one of the neighboring hills, 
and on their return, to Virginia’s joy and Sanders’ wrath, 
found Kitty up and dressed, and lying on a sofa in the 
sitting room, while her bedroom was being turned out so 
thoroughly that she could not get into it again for several 
hours. 

“ Poor lamb ! If she dies of this it won’t be my fault,” 
said Sanders with a devouring look at the nurse. 

“ She is not going to die. She is going for a drive to- 
morrow, and home next week,” said the nurse. 

‘‘ Oh, is she indeed, ma’am ?” said Sanders with scathing 
sarcasm. 

The nurse did not reply, but carried out the first part of 
her programme successfully, and as the doctor and Virginia 
both backed her up in the second part, she undertook the 
whole responsibility of moving the patient on the following 
Thursday to Greenhouse. 

Sanders was furious, and utterly refused to have anything 
to do with the move, so she traveled by an earlier train, 
wishing to be at Greenhouse to receive the corpse of her 
darling on its arrival, for she was persuaded Kitty would 
never get home alive, and she gave such a terrible account 
of Kitty’s state to Mrs. Willoughby and the general that 
they half feared her prophecies would be fulfilled. 

But the age of prophecy is over, and it is the unexpected 
which happens, as the Vaughans had discovered to their joy. 


THE UNEXPECTED. 


291 


CHAPTER XXXI. 

THE UNEXPECTED. 

Jack had a healthy appetite, which the news of coming 
into a fortune did not spoil, and they all lingered with him 
over the supper table. 

“ I wonder what course Mrs. Willoughby will pursue 
when she hears the news,” said Lily. 

“ It is too late to let Mrs. Willoughby know to-night, or 
rather too early, for it is to-morrow already, as the Irishman 
said,” remarked Jack. 

“ Alec is gone ; he went to-day while you were gone to the 
funeral. They heard yesterday that Kitty was out of danger, 
and the general returning, so Alec made himself scarce,” 
said Lily. 

“ I should wire to him if I were you, Lil ; he and Barrett 
are two of the most interested people ; they ought to know 
at once,” said Jack. 

“ No, Jack, you would not wire if you were me ; Alec 
would far rather hear the news in a letter from me to-mor- 
row than in a telegram to-day. I shall write,” said Lily. 

“ Lil, Lil, Lil, you are getting very wise. I shan’t spoil 
George in that way. I shall leave him to find it out as he 
can,” said Lottie. 

“ I’ll go and tell him directly after breakfast. You are a 
cool lover, Lottie ; there is certainly no danger of Barrett 
being spoilt. I hope you won’t throw him over for Bruce 
now you are a woman of means, because I shall think you 
a mean woman if you do,” said Jack. 

“ Oh, no ! I shall go on to the bitter end now,” said 
Lottie in rather a cynical tone. 

She was restless and unsettled the next morning, which 
she spent in looking out for Mr. Barrett, whom she expected 
to come and congratulate her as soon as he heard the good 
news from Jack ; but he did not appear, and she had to 
wait till Jack came in to lunch before she learnt how he 
received the news. 

From Jack’s account he did not appear to be very much 
pleased. 


292 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


“ He was very nice to me, and I am sure he was very glad 
to hear of my luck, but when I told him about you girls he 
only said, ‘ I suppose Willoughby will marry Lily, after all,’ 
and he made no remark about you, Lottie. I don’t think 
he took it in, or perhaps he thought it bad form to seem 
pleased.” 

Didn’t he say when he was coming to see us ?” asked 
Lottie. 

” No, he did not mention it.” 

“ Well, I shall mention it to him. I can tell him. Surely 
he must be glad to know he is going to marry five hundred 
pounds a year instead of a penniless woman,” said Lottie. 

“ Can’t say ; probably he’ll come and tell you in the 
course of the day. He is very reserved. I suppose that is 
why he likes you, as you are the very opposite,” said Jack. 

Before luncheon was over, however, a letter was brought 
from Mr. Barrett to Lottie, which she retired into the draw- 
ing room to read. It was her first love letter from George 
Barrett, and she wished to read it unseen and undisturbed, 
even by the blear-eyed Sell. She threw herself into the 
courting chair and, breaking the seal, read as follows : 

“ The Crown, Saturday. 

“ Dearest Lottie : 

“ I hear from Jack that you have come into a nice little* 
fortune, which will probably alter your relations with me. 

I hasten to say that if you wish it I will release you at once 
from the engagement we entered into a few days ago, 
since your principal reasons for contracting it no longer 
exist. 

“You will now be able to leave Workwell at once. There- 
fore the fact of our fictitious marriage having been pub- 
blished is no longer any reason why you should be driven 
into a real marriage, the idea of which, had you possessed 
your present means, you would probably never have enter- 
tained. 

“ Do not let any false ideas of honor bind you to me, 
unless you are convinced that marriage will be for your 
happiness. I say nothing about my own happiness, because 
I considered that side of the question fully before I asked 
you to marry me. 


THE UNEXPECTED. 


293 


“ On the other hand, should you still desire our engage- 
ment to continue invite me to tea this afternoon and I shall 
understand ; if you wish it canceled kindly send me a line 
to that effect at once. 

“ Yours most faithfully, 

“ George Barrett.” 

“ Most faithfully ! Well, he could not be more and he 
could not well be less. Certainly, George Barrett, you are 
an enigma. Oh, my sphinx ! be careful, be very careful, or 
your Lottie will die if she does not read you. I know 
something of the hearts of men, but I honestly confess that 
I know very little of the heart of my future husband,” 
thought Lottie as she stooped and picked up the letter she 
had dropped on the floor. 

“ I can’t read between the lines either. Does he wish me 
to give him up or to marry him ? I’d give half my five, 
hundred a year to know for certain that he wished me to 
marry him. Lottie ! put on your best considering cap 
and consider that letter again,” muttered Lottie half aloud 
as she re-read the letter. 

“ I have it ! I have fathomed it ! They say murderers 
always leave some clew to the discovery of their crime. 
George Barrett has left one clew to the discovery of his 
feelings. Those two little words ‘ at once ’ betray them. 
He wants me to go on with our engagement, but whether it 
is for the sake of my five hundred pounds a year or not I 
don’t know. He is very fond of money, I know that. If 
he had not cared very much what my answer would be he 
would not have minded waiting for it. I shall keep him 
waiting. He wants the answer at once. He won’t have it 
for two whole hours. The most fatal thing I could do 
would be to answer that letter at once. No, George ; no. 
Lottie knows better than that. It is now half-past two. At 
half-past four James shall go across to The Crown and tell 
you to come to tea. Not a moment sooner.” 

Lottie was so pleased with this decision that she flew 
to the piano, and, opening it, played a few bars of a new 
waltz. But she jumped up almost immediately, and, throw- 
ing herself into the courting chair, broke into another 
soliloquy. 


294 LOTTIE'S WOOING. 

“ Release him, indeed ! After all the trouble I have had 
in annexing him ! Not if I know it, Mr. Barrett. Now 
what shall I say when he comes to tea ? Let me consider, 
for it is a very important point ; in fact my whole behavior 
is very important. It behooves me to make no mistakes 
now. It is not money I am playing for. It is something 
much dearer — it is love. I know what I’ll do. He chooses 
to think and say I am marrying him for his money. I’ll 
think and say he is marrying me for mine. It is most 
probably true, for he certainly never evinced any great 
anxiety to marry me until his feelings betrayed him into 
that ‘at once.’ He shan’t hear the last of my five hundred 
pounds a year, I can tell him. There’s the door bell and 
I can’t escape, and if James should say ‘at home ’ I shall 
be caught, and I am not dressed. It is barely three. 
Who can it be ? ” 

Lottie mechanically put her hands up to smooth her 
pretty hair, which, as usual, was beautifully dressed, and 
James answered her last question by walking into the room 
and announcing : 

“ Mrs. Willoughby.” 

This lady entered the room and advanced toward Lottie, 
extending two gloved hands, as though Lottie were her 
dearest friend, and not one of those ‘‘ dreadful girls ” whom 
she had so recently cut. 

“ My dear Miss Vaughan, I am so very, very much pleased 
to hear of your good fortune ; it is indeed good news. I 
ordered the carriage directly I heard it, as I wanted to be 
the very first person to offer my congratulations,” saidMrs. 
Willoughby, emphasizing every other word, and rolling her 
r’s after a fashion she had when she wanted to be particu- 
larly agreeable. 

“ Thank you ; it is very kind of you, I am sure ; but you 
are not the first person to congratulate me ; I had quite a 
levee the day my engagement was announced,” said Lottie, 
willfully mistaking the subject of Mrs. Willoughby’s con- 
gratulations. 

“ Ah ! yes, to be sure ; I did hear you and Mr. Barrett are 
really engaged, after all, and very glad I was to hear it ; it 
is such a very suitable match.” 

“ Old cat, how her velvet claws scratch,” thought Lottie, 


THE UNEXPECTED. 295 

who knew all this last remark implied as well as Mrs. 
Willoughby. 

Mrs. Willoughby considered George Barrett infinitely 
beneath her in the social scale, and this was a civil way of 
hinting she considered Lottie was also, or at least that he 
was good enough for Lottie. 

“ It is suitable in this way : we each have what the other 
lacks,” said Lottie stiffly. 

“ You both have the one thing needful to a really happy 
marriage ; I mean money. It is natural enough you young 
people should think love is all you need, but we older people 
are wiser, and think almost as much of money as of love.” 

“ More, very much more,” said Lottie in a very sarcastic 
tone, for Mrs. Willoughby was irritating her almost beyond 
endurance. 

“ And is all that I have heard true, my dear Miss 
Vaughan ? ” continued Mrs. Willoughby, who was dying to 
know if Lily had really come into this money. 

“ I don’t know what you have heard ; it is quite true that 
my late uncle disinherited his son in favor of my brother, 
who comes into the estate when he is twenty-one.” 

“ So I understand. Charming, my dear ; charming. I am 
so very glad. And you and your sister — you too come into 
something, don’t you, dear ? ” 

“ I do ; I am to have five hundred pounds a year.” 

“And your sister, of course, the same?” said Mrs. 
Willoughby interrogating. 

“ No, Lily is not of age ; mother is to have one hundred 
pounds a year for her maintenance until she is twenty-one,” 
said Lottie, watching Mrs. Willoughby’s face falling as she 
had meant it to fall. 

“ Indeed ! I had understood you both came inter five 
hundred pounds a year now.” 

“It is quite a mistake. Lily comes into nothing now ; the 
one hundred pounds a year for her maintenance is left to 
mother, and that ” 

“Goes to Lily, I suppose, when she is twenty-one,” inter- 
rupted Mrs. Willoughby. 

“ That allowance ceases when Lil comes of age,” con- 
tinued Lottie. 

“ Really ? How very stupid people are in repeating 


296 


LOTTIES WOOING. 


things. I was under the impression you both had the same ; 
and in that case of course I should have had no objection 
to receiving your sister at once as my son’s future wife. It 
was solely on account of their want of means that I 
objected.” 

“ I quite understand,” said Lottie, adroitly turning the 
conversation to some local news in which neither she nor 
her visitor felt any interest, and thus she precipitated Mrs. 
Willoughby’s retreat. 

No sooner was that lady safely out of the house than 
Lottie rushed into the morning room, where the others were, 
dancing with delight. 

“ O Lil ! I have paid her out. She came to welcome 
you as a daughter, having heard of our money, and I have 
sent her off under the impression you have not a penny.” 

“ O Lottie, how could you ? ” 

I did not say a single word that wasn’t true ; I made a 
huge mental reservation, that was all. Oh, isn’t she wild 
with anger at having called ? And won’t she hate me ? 
Never mind, Mrs. Willoughby ; I’ll teach you to cut us. 
Won’t my fiancU enjoy it ? Is it half-past four yet ?” 

“ No, Lottie, it is only half-past three. Why ? ” 

Lottie did not choose to answer that question, but the 
truth was the afternoon was as long to her as to Mr. Barrett, 
and she was quite as pleased as he was when half-past four 
arrived, and she sent James across to tell him to come to tea. 

Lottie expected him to come immediately, but he did not 
do so ; he waited for half an hour, and punctually at five 
he walked in. 

“ Why didn’t you come when I sent ? ” said Lottie when 
he at last appeared. 

“ Why didn’t you send when I wrote ? ” he replied in the 
same tone. 

“ So I did ; you said ‘ at once,’ and I sent.” 

“Two hours after. You said ‘at once,’ and I came ‘at 
once.’ ” 

“ I don’t call half an hour at once.” 

“ Nor do I call two hours at once. I took my cue from 
you. 

“And I am going to take mine from you,” thought 
Lottie. 


THE UNEXPECTED. 297 

“Well, aren’t you delighted to hear your future wife has 
five hundred pounds a year of her own ? ” she asked. 

“ If it makes you happier I am glad.” 

“ If it makes me happier ! Of course it makes me hap- 
pier. Why, I shall never have to ask you for a penny ; I 
shall never be reminded that I am your lady housekeeper ; 
I shall be quite independent, even if you only let me keep 
fifty pounds a year for myself.” 

“ What do you mean ? Do you suppose I am going to 
touch a penny of your money ? ” 

“ Of course you will ; what is mine is yours, what is yours 
is your own, in spite of the Married Women’s Property 
Act.” 

“ Nothing of the kind. I mean you to have all you bar- 
gained for. I won’t keep back one penny of the price, still 
less of your own money.” 

“ Come now, Mr. Barrett, it is no use pretending you 
are not glad I am well off ; I know you are delighted. A 
sensible man like you looks at things from a sensible point 
of view. Confess you are glad. Five hundred a year is 
such a nice, round little sum ! ” 

“ It is. I confess I am very glad indeed,” said Barrett, 
carefully denuding his voice of all expression. 

“You really might have done worse than marry me, after 
all, might not you ? ” 

“I really might.” 

“ I wonder whether he really cares ? I can’t make out. I 
am beginning to think I have found my match, after all,” 
thought Lottie, so she changed the subject. 

Before Mr. Barrett left he slipped a small parcel into her 
hands, telling her not to open it until he was gone. He had 
given her an engagement ring of sapphires and diamonds a 
day or two before, so she did not expect another present so 
soon, particularly as George Barrett had the character of 
being rather fond of his money, and somewhat slow at part- 
ing with it, so Lottie was amazed when she opened the 
parcel to find it contained her diamond ring and her watch 
and chain. 

“ O Lottie ! How good of him ! Did you tell him what 
you had done with them ? ” said Lottie. 

“ Of course I did not. I can’t think how he found it out. 


298 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


unless, perhaps, Jack told him about the ring long ago,” said 
Lottie, but this Jack denied. 

“He might have guessed about the ring, but even then 
how could he have known where the watch was, for you took 
that to Derby, didn’t you?” said Lily. 

Lottie ignored this question, and escaped to her own room 
to avoid further inquiries. 

She knew pretty well how he had found it out. He must 
have seen her going in or out of the shop with the golden 
balls the day she secretly went to Chesterfield, and probably 
he followed to discover her business. He was so well 
known in Chesterfield that he would not have had any diffi- 
culty in getting her ring and watch back if he chose to pay 
for them. 

Evidently he had taken more interest in her affairs than 
she had given him credit for. How much did he know ? 
Did he know all that there was to know about her and her 
schemes ? 

Heaven and all the powers therein forbid it ! Lottie, as 
she thought this, threw herself on to her little bed and hid 
her burning cheeks on the pillow. 

“ He would hate me if he knew all. I know he would, 
and yet I begin to feel I shall never know what peace is till 
I have told him all. Oh, why have I such a thing as a 
conscience ? I never used to be bothered with one. Is 
love the cause of my having a conscience ? Oh, I don’t 
like love ; it changes one so. It is like a lamp which shows 
all one’s shortcomings in a bright light. It makes me hate 
myself and want to be good. I believe I shall have to be 
very good some day, and all because I love George Barrett. 
Lottie ! Lottie I how could you be so foolish as to fall in 
love ? I am ashamed of myself.” 

So she was ; love is such a purifying power it had already 
made her ashamed, not of loving, but of all the tricks she 
had played to induce George Barrett to propose to her. 

“ I hope he is not going to be very good to me, to heap 
coals of fire on my head ; I shall have to confess all my sins 
to him — all that concern him, I mean — if he is so generous. 
No, not all — not quite all ; no woman ever did confess all^ so 
they say, except, I suppose, Catholic women do to the priest 
for fear of losing their souls if they don’t. I am not afraid 


THE UNEXPECTED, 


299 

of losing my soul. I hope it is not very wicked to say so, 
but I feel much more afraid of losing George Barrett. I 
know what I’ll do ; at least I think I will. I will wait till I 
am married, and then I'll confess nearly all to him. Yes, 
I’ll resolve to do that. Now I wonder if I shall have any 
peace ? It is not long to wait. He wants to be married soon — 
before he takes his holiday. I am to fix the day and tell 
him to-morrow! I shall fix the 29th of September, quarter 
day. I said I’d do it in a year, but I have done it in six 
months. At least I have nearly done it. I must not count 
my chickens before they are hatched. Now I wonder if I 
can wait nearly three whole months before I tell him nearly 
all my transgressions, I wonder ? ” 

And Lottie remained lost in wonder on this point till it 
it was time to dress for dinner, at which meal their future 
plans were discussed, and it was decided that Mrs. Vaughan 
should continue to live at The Cottage, at any rate until Lily 
came of age ; she would thus be near Lottie when she mar- 
ried, and Jack could come home for the vacations. 

“ We can use our double coachhouse now, mother. We 
can afford to keep a pony and trap, and you’ll be able to get 
about more. Shall I get Mr. Barrett to look out for a 
pony? ” said Lottie. 

“ Oh, yes, Lottie, do ! It will be lovely. But why do 
you call him Mr. Barrett ? It sounds so odd,” said 
Lily. 

“ We are an odd couple ; besides, he has never told me to 
call him anything else,” said Lottie. 

“ I should not advise you to call him Mr. Barrett to his 
face often ; I saw him look as black as thunder to-day when 
you did so,” said Jack. 

“ You are an odd couple certainly. I don’t think you 
care a pin for each other. Do you. Jack ? ” said Lily. 

I don’t know. They are very different to Sir Claude 
and Miss Willoughby, and to you and Alec. I should not 
like to give my opinion on so delicate a matter,” said Jack, 
who nevertheless had his own ideas on the subject. 

A few days later Mr. Barrett asked Lottie and her mother 
to drive over to his new house with him and see how they 
liked what furniture had already arrived. 

“ I ana sure I shall faint when I see that suite, and the 


300 


LOTTIE'S WOOING, 


red and green carpets, so take your salts, mother,” said 
Lottie before they started. 

“I have asked the Savages to meet us up there, and 
ordered tea in one of the rooms. Of course it will be rather 
rough, as no carpets are down yet, but I have ordered a 
pattern to be sent for Lottie to see,” said Mr. Barrett as he 
drove Mrs. Vaughan, with Lottie on the back seat, to the 
house. 

Lottie entered the house in fear and trembling. She 
expected to be horrified at her future husband’s taste, and 
was turning over in her pretty head ways and means of 
hinting at alterations without offending him. 

“ The Savages haven’t come yet. We will go and look at 
the drawing room furniture. I have had it unpacked on 
purpose for you to see. This way, Mrs. Vaughan,” said 
Mr. Barrett, leading the way to the drawing room. 

There they found, not a suite to send Lottie into hysterics, 
but chairs, tables, cabinets, all of Chippendale, no two things 
alike, but the general effect would have satisfied the most 
fastidious critic. Lottie clapped her hands with delight, 
and sent forth a series of little shrieks of joy so manifestly 
genuine that Mr. Barrett, who had given the subject much 
consideration, was satisfied with the result of his labors. 

“You like it ?” he said casually. 

“ It is perfectly lovely,” said Lottie aloud. “If the car- 
pets are equally artistic I believe I shall fall down on my 
knees and confess everything before mother,” she added 
inwardly. 

The carpets turned out to be a really lovely design of 
Virginia creeper on a pale green ground, but Lottie was 
saved from yielding to the promptings of her guilty 
conscience by the entrance of Mr. and Miss Savage. 

Mr. Savage seemed somewhat excited, and Lottie was 
half afraid of him, and took an opportunity when Mr. Bar- 
rett was gone to see if tea was ready of running after her 
lover to remonstrate with him for having invited this mad- 
man. 

“ Mr. Barrett,” she began as soon as they were out of 
earshot. 

George Barrett turned round, and catching Lottie in his 
arms said ; 


THE UNEXPECTED. 


301 


If you ever dare call me Mr. Barrett again I’ll ” 

But before he had finished his threat Lottie had slipped 
away, saying : 

“ I won’t, George ; I won’t. But why did you ask that 
man ? I can’t bear him ; I am sure he is plotting another 
fire.” 

“ Not he. He is full of a new idea. It has just occurred 
to him that by the time England is entirely built over the 
human race will have discovered the science of living entirely 
on chemical foods, so he no longer feels bound to oppose 
the building of new houses. Marion ” 

“ Ahem ! ” coughed Lottie, with a pretty, threatening 
gesture. 

“ I mean Miss Savage thinks it is a great step toward 
recovery. I am inclined to think he is no longer dangerous, 
and therefore I asked him here to-day.” 

“ Perhaps you are right ; but I have a presentiment he’ll 
do us, or me at any rate, a bad turn some day,” said Lottie, 
running off to fetch the others to tea. 

She avoided being alone with Mr. Barrett for the rest of 
the afternoon lest her gratitude for the way he had con- 
sulted her taste should lead her to unburden herself. 

“ George, take Mr. Savage round the garden, and leave 
‘ us women and the rest of the furniture,’ as those rude Greek 
poets said, to examine everything minutely. Our little 
minds are not satisfied unless we go into details you men 
can’t stoop to,” said Lottie after tea. 

“I can’t think what made him give me that blue silk, now 
I see he has such excellent taste,” said Lottie to Lily as they 
undressed that night. 

“ Lottie, do you know I believe he did it on purpose to 
see if you cared enough for him to accept it? ” said Lily. 

“ Don’t, Lil! If you dare to suggest anything so horrible 
I’ll — I’ll — I don’t know what I won’t do to you,” said Lottie, 
who was engaged in combing her beautiful hair, and had 
just drawn a great wave of it in front of her burning cheeks 
to hide them from Lily. 

“ Horrible ! I think it was rather nice of him ; it showed 
he was very anxious to know if you liked him.” 

“ Be quiet, Lil,” said Lottie, and to Lily’s distress Lottie 


302 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


burst into a flood of tears, and ultimately cried herself to 
sleep, and dreamt she was an Egyptian girl walking along a 
sandy road, on which sat George Barrett in the form of 
a sphinx, propounding a riddle which, though her life 
depended on answering correctly, she could not guess. 


CHAPTER XXXII. 

KITTY IS ROUSED. 

Sir Claude did not stop long at Greenhouse, although 
he was put into the duke’s room, and Mrs. Willoughby 
assumed her most fascinating manner for his benefit, em- 
phasizing her words and rolling her r’s more than ever, and 
displaying as much backbone in the evening as was com- 
patible with her age, though she bemoaned the loss of it in 
the daytime. 

He found his future mother-in-law, in spite of, perhaps in 
consequence of, her ducal connections, rather overpower- 
ing, and he had a telegram summoning him home two days 
after he arrived. 

Mrs. Willoughby heard of the Vaughans’ good fortune 
the day after he reached the Greenhouse, and confided to 
him her intention of at once calling to congratulate them 
for “ dear Alec’s sake.” 

“You know. Sir Claude, the general vows he will never 
forgive Alec if Kitty dies, but will cast him off there and 
then ; so it is absolutely necessary to make some other pro- 
vision for the dear boy. If he would only see things from 
a right point of view and marry Kitty she would get well 
fast enough. She has no organic disease ; she is simply 
pining away for love of Alec. It is a terrible trial. Sir 
Claude, to have such fascinating children. I am afraid 
Alec is destined to break a good many hearts.” 

“ I don’t think Miss Kitty at all likely to die, and I am 
sure Willoughby is quite right not to marry her if he is in 
love with another girl.” 

“ Well, yes, perhaps he is,” said Mrs. Willoughby, think- 
ing of Lily’s money. 


ICITTY is ROUSED. 

On her return from her interview with Lottie, however, 
her opinion changed considerably. 

“ How dreadfully people exaggerate. I found the report 
about the Vaughans is not true. The younger girl does not 
come into anything ; only Jack and that dreadful Miss 
Vaughan, my pet aversion,” she said as she sipped her tea. 

“ Prejudice, my dear ; prejudice ; or shall I say it is jeal- 
ousy on your part which makes you dislike Miss Vaughan ? 
She is a very charming young woman. She is going to 
marry Barrett, I hear. Lucky fellow,” said the general. 

“ Born to carry parcels and sweep out a counting house,” 
sneered Mrs. Willoughby. 

“ Lived to be the duke’s agent and one of the shrewdest 
men in the county, which he will represent before he dies, 
I have no doubt,” said the general, who was in such good 
spirits at Kitty’s recovery and Virginia’s engagement that 
he was almost inclined to forgive Alec. 

Alec had been wise in going away before his father 
returned. His presence would have irritated the general, 
whereas his absence made him disposed to overlook his 
conduct, particularly as that conduct had verified his own 
predictions. 

The general was very illogical in his anger. It varied 
with Kitty’s health. When she was inclined to recover he 
was inclined to forgive ; when she was worse his anger 
increased in the same ratio. As to Alec’s engagement to 
Lily, that he simply ignored, and was quite indifferent to 
the various reports about her fortune, so he did not express 
any surprise or pleasure when Mrs. Willoughby heard from 
Alec that Lily came into the same sum as Lottie when 
she was twenty-one. 

It is difficult to say whether anger with “ that dreadful* 
girl Lottie ” for having misled her or pleasure at finding 
Lily would have five hundred a year was the predominant 
feeling in Mrs. Willoughby’s mind when she read her son’s 
letter. 

She had not decided what course to pursue, how to notice 
Lily and ignore Lottie, who would certainly refuse to be 
ignored, when the two girls returned her visit. Luckily for 
Lottie the general was at home, so she kept up an open flir- 
tation with him, rendered all the more piquant because she 


LOTTIE* S WOOING, 


saw it annoyed Mrs. Willoughby, who devoted herself 
entirely to Lily. 

Mrs. Willoughby managed to deliver a parting thrust at 
Lottie before the girls left. 

“When is your marriage to take place, Miss Vaughan ?” 
she inquired. 

“At the end of September,” said Lottie. 

“ Not before ? Dear me, I should have thought, after 
that terrible scandal, which I was so sorry to hear of, you 
would have fixed it as soon as possible. By the way, did 
you ever find out who inserted that advertisement ? ” 

“ No,” said Lottie, turning a shade paler. 

“ The fact is if you live in a third-rate town like Work- 
well you must be very careful how you behave. Now Vir- 
ginia would have lived there all her life and it would have 
been quite impossible for such a thing to happen to her ; she 
is so very particular. But then she was not only destined to 
fill, but eminently suited to fill, the very high position she 
will occupy in society,” pursued Mrs. Willoughby. 

“ Quite so. I admire Miss Willoughby almost as much as 
Jack does,” said Lottie sweetly, ignoring the implied rebuke 
so utterly that even Lily thought she had failed to perceive 
it, until they were again alone, when she was undeceived. 

“ O Lil,” said Lottie, “ I do hope heaven will have two 
hemispheres, like a map of the world, and have no communi- 
cation between them.” 

“ Why, Lottie ? ” 

“ So that Mrs. Willoughby may inhabit one and I the 
other, or it won’t be heaven to me. I wonder why there 
are such odious women in the world. I can see the use of 
toads and vipers, and wasps and hornets, but I can’t see the 
use of Mrs. Willoughby.” 

“Well, you know, Lottie, if there had not been a Mrs. 
Willoughby there would not have been an Alec, I suppose,” 
said Lily, looking at the matter from her own somewhat 
limited point of view. 

A few days later the Willoughbys heard from Virginia of 
the improvement in Kitty’s state, and that she would come 
home the following Thursday in spite of Sanders’ objections 
and lugubrious prophecies ; which news threw the general 
into a great state of excitement, only increased by the pre- 


KITTY IS ROUSED. $0^ 

mature arrival of Sanders, full of gloomy forebodings, which 
grew gloomier as the hour of Kitty’s arrival approached. 

To the astonishment of everyone except the nurse Kitty 
got out of the carriage and walked into the house, looking 
no worse than when she went away from home, except that 
she was thinner ; and for the first few days after her return 
she seemed to be on the highroad to recovery. 

Then the trained nurse went away, and Kitty began to 
flag. She first took to her own room and then to her bed. 
She ate little or nothing, and lay idle all day long. Sanders 
declared it was all the effect of the journey, and was sure 
her darling was going to die ; the general swore it was all 
Alec’s fault, and that he would never see him again ; Mrs. 
Willoughby blamed no one but “ that dreadful Miss 
Vaughan,” who, not content with alluring Mr. Barrett into 
marrying her, had schemed to get Alec to jilt Kitty in favor 
of Lily ; while Virginia thought the relapse was in a great 
measure Sanders’ fault for encouraging Kitty’s morbid 
ideas, and she begged the general to send for the nurse 
again. 

In the midst of all these discussions Miss Savage called, 
and for a wonder was admitted to Kitty’s room, the truth 
being Kitty wanted to hear all she could about Alec and 
Lily Vaughan from Miss Savage, Sanders having told her of 
the Vaughans’ money, and of the recognition of Lily as 
Alec’s fiancee by Mrs. Willoughby. 

“ What do you think of her, dear Miss Savage ? ” said 
Virginia anxiously when Miss Savage came out of Kitty’s 
room. 

“ I think slie wants rousing. I don’t believe there is 
really much the matter with her, but I do think she will die 
if she is not roused, and puzzle all the doctors to say what 
killed her.” 

“ But how are we to rouse her ? ” said Virginia. ^ 

Send’ for Mr. Long; he is just home from Switzerland. 
She ought to see a clergyman,” said Miss Savage. 

“ I will. I’ll send to-day. I believe you are right about 
her ; the nurse and Sir Claude said exactly the same.” 

“ I am sure of it, but I should not say anything to Mr. 
Long at first ; perhaps he will find it out for himself, and if 
he does he won’t scruple to tell her she must make an effort 


3o6 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


to get better. He is so bright and full of spirits I am sure 
he will do her good.” 

“ And he is so fond of her too that I am sure he will be 
only too glad to come,” said Virginia. 

Accordingly Mr. Long was sent for and came every day 
for a week to see Kitty. His visits were not of a pastoral 
nature. Virginia or Mrs. Willoughby was always present. 
But he seemed to bring fresh life in with him, and he cer- 
tainly did Kitty good. She used to consider herself well 
enough to get up and half dress and receive him on the sofa 
in her own room, but always went to bed again directly 
he was gone. 

Then Sir Claude arrived, and took an early opportunity 
of stating his opinion of Kitty’s illness to Mr. Long, not hav- 
ing forgiven her for depriving him of Virginia’s society on 
his last visit. Mr. Long, needless to say, being in love with 
Kitty, did not believe him, and thought him a brute for his 
pains. 

However, when he found Virginia and the doctor both 
shared Sir Claude’s opinion, that Kitty was not so ill as she 
imagined herself to be, that, in short, if she chose to make 
the least effort to get up she was quite well enough to do so, 
he resolved to speak to her, since Virginia begged that he 
would. 

“ I am afraid it will make her hate me, but I will risk that 
if you really think it will do her any good.” 

“ I am quite sure it will, and I don’t think it will do you 
any harm with Kitty.” 

Mr. Long’s manner to Kitty had always been rather that 
of a worshiper at some shrine ; therefore Kitty was very 
much surprised when after this interview with Virginia Mr. 
Long came into her room and, sitting down by her sofa, said 
somewhat abruptly : 

“ Miss Kitty, I am going to speak very seriously to you.” 

Kitty was so taken aback she could not reply, and turned 
her little pale face inquiringly toward him as she lay in a 
pale blue Indian cashmere wrapper embroidered with gold, 
which suited her auburn hair and thick white complexion. 

“ The truth is you are not making the least effort to get 
well. The doctor assures me if you chose you could eat 
and drink, and walk and play tennis, and ride and drive as 


KITTY IS ROUSED. 


307 


well as ever you did. Now it is my duty to tell you that you 
are acting very wrongly, and grieving not only all those who 
love you so dearly, but the God who made you, and loves 
you far more than any human creature can.” 

Up to this point Kitty had only turned very red, but now 
her bosom began to heave, her eyes filled with tears, she 
covered her face with her little white hands, and Mr. Long, 
who had a horror of seeing any woman weep, and who loved 
this particular woman with all his great, kind heart, steeled 
himself to finish his say. 

“ I have done my duty, painful as it has been ; yours is 
to try and get well, and to take every means in your power 
to do so as quickly as possible. Before I go I want you to 
promise me to do this ; will you ? I ask it as your clergy- 
man as well as you friend. Will you promise ?”’ 

For answer Kitty turned on one side and burst into a fit 
of passionate weeping, and Mr. Long began to walk up and 
down the room, waiting till it was over, not trusting himself 
to look at her lest he should be tempted to fall on his 
knees by her side, and tell her once more how he loved 
her. 

Every sob of Kitty’s was like a stab which went straight 
to his heart. He felt he had been a brute, and yet he 
knew he might as reasonably accuse a surgeon who was 
forced to use the knife to save the patient’s life of bru- 
tality. 

Poor little fatherless and motherless girl ! She had been 
more sinned against than sinning. How his heart bled for 
her ! How he longed to comfort her, to shield her from 
every wind of heaven for the rest of her life, if she would 
only trust herself to him. But this was not a propitious 
moment in which to urge his suit. 

He glanced once or twice at the little figure, once so plump, 
now so thin, lying on the sofa with a great coil of auburn hair 
loosened and falling over her shoulders, which heaved with 
her sobs, and as he looked he wondered when the storm 
ceased what he should say next. 

He need not have troubled himself to consider, for 
the opportunity of saying anything was not given him. 

There are certain passionate people who go through the 
world without that temper being roused more than once in 


LOTTIE'S WOOINC. 


308 

the whole course of their lives. Circumstances don’t favor 
its exhibition. The possessors are perhaps unconscious 
that such a demon lies dormant within them until some 
tempest arises and wakes it. Then the sleeping lion is 
roused, and such anger is terrible to witness, partly from its 
rarity, partly because its presence was not suspected. 

Kitty was one of these natures. Never since her birth 
had she shown signs of a passionate temper. She was more 
inclined to be a little sulky if put out, but on the whole she 
was even tempered, and no one who knew her would have 
believed her capable of violent anger. 

“ The worm will turn, though,” says the proverb. 

Poor Kitty had been jilted by the man she loved, and 
now the man who loved her had taken her to task for not 
bearing her trouble better. 

Suddenly the sobs ceased. Kitty jumped up from the 
sofa, faced Mr. Long, held back her skirts with both hands 
tightly clenched over them, gnashed her teeth, and hissed out: 

“ I simply hate you ! ” and with that rushed from the 
room. 

Mr. Long mechanically followed her, for she attracted 
him as the magnet attracts steel, and like steel he was 
obliged to follow. 

Down the wide staircase ran Kitty, her beautiful hair fall- 
ing in great waves down her back as she ran, through the 
dining hall into the drawing room, where the family, includ- 
ing Sir Claude, were assembled at tea, and where her appear- 
ance in such deshabille caused the old butler to report in the 
servants’ hall that poor Miss Arundel was delirious — news 
which sent Sanders flying to the rescue. 

“ Who did it ? Who dared to send Mr. Long to tell me 
what you all think of me ? I have come to tell you what I 
think of you,” exclaimed Kitty, rushing into the middle of the 
room. “ Cowards ! cowards ! cowards ! all of you ! You, 
Sir Claude, and you, Virginia, and you. Rajah, and you. 
Ranee ! And Alec is the greatest coward of you all. He 
made love to me, and you encouraged him to do so. Ranee. 
He made me love him, poor little fool that I was, with no 
mother to advise me better, and then he threw me away like 
a faded flower ; and you all let me break my heart for him, 
and think I was dying, and all the time you knew I was 


ICITTV IS kOVSED. 


3^0 

not likely to die, and you dared not tell me so. You send 
the only person in the world who I believe cares a straw for 
me to tell me, to humble me in his eyes. I hate him ! I 
hate Alec ! I hate all of you, and I’ll never forgive any of 
you for treating me like this.” 

Here Sanders, who had not dared to interrupt her young 
mistress, now advanced and whispered in a soothing tone : 

“ Come, come, come, my lamb.” 

“ Go away, Sanders. You are as bad as the others. 
Why did you let me keep in bed when I was quite well ? So 
the doctor and nurse and Mr. Long say. I am quite well, 
it is quite true, and I wish I was quite dead and cold and 
stiff, and all my wretched money gone to Alec. That was 
what he loved — my money, not me, and Ranee knew it, and 
Rajah ” 

“ Kitty,” said the general in a broken voice, “ Kitty, my 
darling child, you are very ill.” 

The general up to this point had sat speechless like the 
others, but when Kitty mentioned him a second time he 
rose and went toward her, and Kitty, her brief madness 
over, fell sobbing into his arms. 

Her sudden outbreak of wrath affected all who heard it 
with surprise and a vague feeling of having received merited 
chastisement. They all felt more or less like whipped dogs, 
and one by one they all left the room except the general, 
leaving Kitty mistress of the situation. 

Mr. Long was the first to go. He felt he was the direct 
cause of this family storm. He also felt that if he remained 
the sight of Kitty’s tears would move him to throw himself 
at her feet before them all, so, like Silvius from Corin, he 
broke from the company abruptly, and rushed out of the 
room, and subsequently out of the house, when Kitty fell 
into the general’s arms. 

Sanders was the next to go, moved partly by jealousy, 
knowing that if the general took his darling’s part her sup- 
port would be a supererogation, and, muttering a Derby- 
shire proverb to the effect that the general “ had got all the 
water of the wheel,” meaning all the good fortune, she 
bounced after Mr. Long. 

Mrs. Willoughby, who always liked to spare herself any 
pain, and who was smarting acutely under the lash of 


310 


LOTTIE'S WOOWG. 


Kitty’s tongue, made good her retreat by a door near her 
sofa, which enabled her to escape unobserved. 

Virginia, who was inwardly blaming herself for not hav- 
ing had the moral courage to speak to Kitty instead of 
leaving Mr. Long to do so, sat longing to follow her mother 
and not daring to do so ; while Sir Claude, who had never 
respected Kitty so much as he did now, thinking she would 
like to be alone with the general, and knowing he would 
like to be alone with Virginia, whispered to her to come 
with him into the garden. 

Once alone with her Rajah Kitty soon subsided into her 
usual gentle manner, but what passed between the two 
never transpired. All that was known was that the general 
strictly forbade anyone to allude to the scene again, and 
gave orders that Kitty was to be treated with the utmost 
consideration by everyone in the house. 

At dinner Kitty, though she looked very pale, was more 
cheerful than she had been for months. She played and 
sang in the evening, got up to breakfast the next morning, 
went for a drive with Sir Claude and Virginia, and 
announced her intention of playing tennis that afternoon. 

“ Kitty, dear, I am sure you are not strong enough to 
play tennis,” said Virginia. 

But Kitty was determined to play, so Virginia sent a 
message to Mr. Long, asking him to come and bring his 
racket, thinking the sooner the meeting between him and 
Kitty was over the better. 

Poor Mr. Long, who had had but little sleep, and had 
been raging at himself in his waking hours as a brainless 
idiot who had practically cut his own throat, was only too 
pleased to accept the invitation, hoping to have an oppor- 
tunity in the course of the aLernoon of retrieving his 
fortunes. 

“Who is to be the fourth?” he asked as they reached 
the tennis grounds. 

“ I am,” said Kitty. 

“ You ! You must not dream of such a thing. Miss 
Kitty ; you would faint in the middle of a set,” exclaimed 
Mr. Long. • 

“ Yesterday you told me I could play ; I mean to try,” 
said Kitty, playing with a ball. 


KITTY IS ROUSED. 


311 

“ Then you must excuse me from playing. I simply 
won’t be an accessory to such folly,” said Mr, Long quite 
crossly for a man who had never been seen out of temper 
by his most intimate friends. 

“Very well; Rajah will play with me. Won’t you, 
Rajah?” said Kitty. 

“Yes,” said the general, who would have stood on his 
head.if Kitty had wished, and the game began. 

The general, who was growing rather stout, was not so 
active as he used to be, so Kitty had her full share of the 
work to do. The result was on the conclusion of the set she 
sat down on the grass by the side of Mr. Long, who had 
been watching the game, and without a word of warning she 
quietly fainted away. 

She soon recovered, but they were all convinced she was 
not strong enough at present for any violent exertion, and 
the general determined the doctor should be asked to put 
a limit to her efforts at rousing herself. 

Mr. Long had no difficulty in finding an opportunity of 
speaking to Kitty alone, for Sir Claude and Virginia were 
most considerate in absenting themselves, of course moved 
solely with a desire to please the others. 

“ Miss Arundel, I feel I owe you an apology for the 
liberty I took yesterday,” began Mr. Long as Sir Claude 
and Virginia wandered to their favorite place, the old stone 
pulpit overlooking the valley. 

“No, you don’t; you were quite right to say what you 
said, and I am very much obliged to you for saying it,” said 
Kitty in a low voice. 

“ The thought of having given you pain kept me awake 
nearly all night.” 

“ That was very foolish of you ; it did not keep me 
awake ; I slept like a top. Sleeplessness has been my lot 
for months now ; if I can 'only sleep better I shall soon get 
strong. I must take to riding and driving till I am strong 
enough for tennis,” said Kitty. 

“ Promise me you won’t overdo it ? I shall feel I am the 
culprit whenever I hear you have been doing too much.” 

“ I won’t make any rash promises. In fact I shall never 
make any promises again, I think,” said Kitty. 

“ That means she’ll never promise to marry anyone again, 


312 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


Well, I must learn how to wait ; ‘ everything comes to him 
who knows how to wait,’ ” thought Mr. Long, and he did 
not attempt to make love to Kitty any more that day. 


CHAPTER XXXIII. 

LILY ADVISES LOTTIE. 

Love is a wonderfully regenerating power. It is only 
little natures who are made selfish by love ; great and noble 
•natures are enlarged and ennobled by it. A girl with a 
smaller nature than Virginia Willoughby’s would, no doubt, 
have given herself airs at being engaged to a baronet, but 
Virginia was much less airy than before, so that the general 
remark made was how much Miss Willoughby had improved 
since her engagement. 

Love, the key to many mysteries, had opened her heart 
and sympathies instead of closing them to all but Sir 
Claude. 

She went to see the Vaughans the day after her return 
home, and at once took Lily under her wing. When Sir 
Claude arrived she took him to call upon them, knowing it 
would please them ; and Sir Claude was charmed with Lily, 
and much amused by Lottie, to whom he took a fancy, so 
that the two families soon became intimate, Kitty alone 
holding aloof. 

Lottie was to be married the first of the three engaged 
girls, and was, consequently, very busy preparing her trous- 
seau. They had bought a pony carriage and cob, and she 
drove Mrs. Vaughan out nearly every day. Once a week 
she went to Manchester with Mr. Barrett, for all the furni- 
ture for the new house and most of Lottie’s trousseau came 
from thence ; Lily generally went with them, or if she were 
prevented Jack went. 

In spite of all the excitement and occupation her prepara- 
tions gave her, and the new delight of having money enough 
for all she wanted, Lottie was not happy. Her high spirits 
were assumed, and she often lay awake crying when she 
believed Lily to be asleep and dreaming of Alec ; but Lily 


LILY ADVISES LOTTIE. 


313 


was more wakeful than Lottie supposed, and more obser- 
vant. 

Lottie was as much of a sphinx riddle to Lily as Mr. 
Barrett was to Lottie. Lily knew her sister was not happy, 
and having decided Lottie was marrying Mr. Barrett simply 
for money, and was breaking her heart for Captain Bruce in 
Jersey, she made up her mind to remonstrate with her, hav- 
ing first consulted Jack on the subject. 

“ I don’t believe either of them cares a pin for the other. 
Jack,” said Lily. 

“ Nonsense, Lil ; I believe they are awfully fond of each 
other, only they are too sensible to show it.” 

“ But Lottie cries herself to sleep constantly. I know she 
is not happy. I believe she is in love with Captain Bruce ; 
I always did think so.” 

“ Lottie is not such a goose. Why, Barrett is worth ten 
Captain Bruces. You leave Barrett and Lottie to square 
their own accounts, Lil, and confine yourself to Alec,” 
advised Jack. 

Lily, however, did not take Jack’s advice. With the supe- 
rior wisdom of twenty she determined to give Lottie the 
benefit of her counsel, and did so one night as they were 
undressing after a small dinner party at their own house. 

Both the girls were in slight mourning for their uncle, 
and looked their very best in black lace dresses trimmed 
with natural flowers. 

“ Lottie,” said Lily solemnly as Lottie was unpinning 
some plumbago she had been wearing from her dress, “ I 
want to ask you a question. Why are you going to marry 
Mr. Barrett ? ” 

“ Why am I ? Why shouldn’t I ? ” said Lottie, replying 
by another question. 

Because I am sure you don’t love him, and, Lottie, you’ll 
never be happy with a man you don’t love. Besides, now 
you have money, there is no reason why you should not 
marry Captain Bruce, whom you always cared more for than 
you did for anyone else,” said Lily. 

“ You think so, Lil ? ” 

“ I am sure of it.” 

“ You are a goose,” said •T.ottie, putting the flowers Mr, 
Barrett had given her into water. 


314 


LOTTIE'S fVOO/NG. 


“ Perhaps I am ; but, Lottie, I want to see you happy. 
Why don’t you marry Captain Bruce ? ” 

“ For two reasons : one, he has not asked me, and the 
other, I am engaged to George Barrett — both insuperable 
barriers.” 

“ Not if you love Captain Bruce and don’t care a pin for 
Mr. Barrett.” 

“ Lily, shall I tell you something ? I don’t care a pin for 
Captain Bruce. I thought I did once, but I made a mis- 
take. People do make mistakes sometimes, even wise peo- 
ple like you. I think it a mistake to be in love at all, a still 
greater one to let anyone know you are ; greatest mistake of 
all to let the man you are in love with know it ; and two of 
those mistakes I never intend to be guilty of.” 

‘‘But, Lottie, you are not happy,” objected Lily. 

Who is ? ” said Lottie bitterly. Lil, Lil, Lil, you are 
a sweet little thing, and I hope you will be very happy, and 
Alec too ; but leave me to manage my affairs for myself, dear. 
I must marry George Barrett, and I mean to do so, even if 
we are separated a week after the marriage, as is not at all 
improbable. It may be foolish, it may be wrong, but I am 
going to do it.” 

“Well, Lottie, you know best, of course ; but I am very 
sorry, and I can’t help wishing you would not do it.” 

“ Hush, child ! I must and will. O Lil ! marriage will 
be heaven or hell to me — it is a toss up which ; but to give 
up this man would kill me, and I prefer life at any price. 
And now never let us speak of this again.” 

Lily was more mystified than ever ; she could not under- 
stand her sister at all ; and so well did Lottie conceal her 
love for Mr. Barrett that it never occurred to Lily to sus- 
pect the truth, any more than Mr. Barrett, who had also 
noticed she was unhappy, would have dared to ascribe her 
unhappiness to that cause. 

“ She wants excitement ; she can’t live without it. I must 
give a dance to amuse her ; she loves dancing. I’ll give a 
ball in Dell Court on the ist of September. There is sure 
to be a large shooting party at the duke’s staying in the 
house that week, so we shall have plenty of men,” said Mr. 
Barrett to himself one day ; ^nd having thought out his 
arrangements he announced his plan to Lottie one evening. 


LILY ADVISES LOTTIE. 


315 


Lottie, I am going to given a ball in Dell Court on the 
ist,” he said, watching the effect of his words on Lottie’s 
face. 

“You are? O George, how heavenly of you! How 
perfectly lovely. Why are you going to do it?’’ 

“ Because I am passionately fond of dancing,’’ said Mr. 
Barrett quietly. 

“Are you? Why, I thought I had heard you say you 
could not dance, and could not bear balls ? ’’ 

“ I did not care for them at one time. I have changed in 
many ways lately ; engaged men do change their tastes, I 
am told.’’ 

“ It is a splendid idea,’’ said Lottie, throwing herself 
heart and soul into the arrangements for the ball, and asking 
endless questions. 

Is there anyone in Jersey you would like to ask over ? 
Captain Bruce, for instance ? ” said Barrett carelessly as he 
showed Lottie a list of people whom he meant to invite. 

Lottie turned very red, and Mr. Barrett mistook the 
cause. 

“No, thank you ; it is too far to come for a ball,’’ she 
answered. 

“ Not at all. Isn’t Bruce the fellow who said he would 
cross the Atlantic for the pleasure of a waltz with you ? ” 

“ Yes ; I believe he said something of the kind, but I 
should not dance with him if he came,’’ said Lottie. 

“O Lottie I why you scarcely ever danced a round dance 
in Jersey with anyone else when he was present,’’ said Lil. 

“ Time was, time is ! Engaged girls do change their 
minds sometimes, I am told,’’ said Lottie, mimicking Mr. 
Barrett’s tone. 

“ I only hope the general will let Alec come to the ball. I 
shall ask him myself. I am not a bit afraid of him, fierce as 
he looks. I shall go up prepared to cry and make a regular 
scene,’’ said Lily. 

“ It is an excellent programme. Miss Lily, but I would 
not begin it yet if I were you. There’s a month before the 
ball, and if Miss Arundel is only well by that time the 
general won’t object to Alec coming,’’ said Mr. Barrett. 

“How is Kitty, Jack ? Do you know ? ’’ asked Lottie. 

“ Better,” said Jack laconically. 


3i6 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


“ I hear there was a tremendous scene at Greenhouse the 
other day ; Long hinted to Miss Kitty that she was not so 
ill as she thought, and she rounded on him, and let them all 
have it hot and strong. I did not think she had it in her," 
said Mr. Barrett. 

“ Miss Savage told you that, I suppose. You hear all the 
news of the neighborhood at The Dell. I wonder you don’t 
issue a newspaper and call it the Wednesday Gazette^' said 
Lottie. 

“ I don’t go there on Wednesdays now. I gave it up when 
I became engaged, not knowing how a certain young lady 
might take it if I went." 

“ What nonsense ! Surely you did not think I should be 
jealous, did you ? " said Lottie, who was secretly intensely 
jealous of Miss Savage’s influence over Mr. Barrett. 

“ I did not flatter myself I had the power to rouse your 
jealousy, but Workwell tongues are very busy, and I did not 
choose to give them more work," replied Mr. Barrett 
coldly. 

In her heart Lottie was delighted to hear these weekly 
evenings at The Dell were given up, innocent as she be- 
lieved them to be, but she took care to conceal her satisfac- 
tion. 


CHAPTER XXXIV. 

THE SOURCE OF THE LATHKILD. 

To Kitty’s annoyance she was forbidden to ride or to 
drive herself until her nerves were stronger, but she might 
be driven about as much as she liked, and during Sir 
Claude’s visit they had engagements every day to garden 
parties or picnics. Mr. Long was present at most of these 
entertainments, and generally managed to be near Kitty 
the greater part of the time. 

A day or two before Sir Claude left she and Virginia 
arranged to take their tea to a favorite place, the source of 
the Lathkild, and Mr. Long was asked to go with them. The 
general was to act as chaperon, and Kitty’s pony carriage 


THE SOURCE OF THE LATHKILD. 317 

and a dogcart were to take the party, Kitty being deter- 
mined to drive herself on this occasion. 

“ Now, Rajah, jump in ; lam going to drive you. Mr. 
Long, will you come with us or with Sir Claude and Vir- 
ginia ? ” said Kitty when they were starting. 

“ I’ll come with you ; but the general had better drive ; 
those ponies will be too much for you.” 

“ Oh, no, they won’t ! Rajah hates driving.” 

“ Then I’ll drive if I may,” said the curate. 

“ All right. Long ; you drive Kitty and take the groom ; I’ll 
go with Lawrence,” said the general, jumping up into the 
dogcart, while Mr. Long after a little delay put Kitty into 
the pony carriage and took the reins. 

Hallo! Long is driving, after all,” said the general 
as the pony carriage overtook the dog-cart. 

“ He is making way. I believe it’ll be a case. I wish I 
could stop to see the end, Vi,” said Sir Claude. 

“ I don’t think it will be yet for some time, if it ever is,” 
said Virginia as the ponies dashed past them. 

The spot they had chosen as the goal of their expedition 
was one of the Derbyshire dales — the one in which the little 
Lathkild took its rise. This stream is remarkable, par- 
ticularly here at its source, for its exquisite clearness. Its 
pellucid waters sparkled like diamonds in the sunlight, and 
beneath it the moss-grown bowlders and silvery white peb- 
bles which formed its bed were as distinct and clear as if 
seen in a mirror ; every aquatic plant which grew there, the 
duckweeds and pondweeds, the arrowheads and water plan- 
tains, stood out as clearly and distinctly beneath the water 
as above it. 

What was it striving to say as it sprung up from the 
depths of the dark earth, among the great bowlders, and 
rushed away on its course, ever springing, ever rushing 
onward and onward, till it merged its clear waters in some 
larger river, and so reached the sea and was lost ? 

Was it rejoicing like a giant to run its course ? 

Was it glad to escape from the bowels of the dark earth, 
out into the open air and sweet sunshine ? 

What could it tell of the depths it had left ? 

Nothing. It could only murmur its delight at being free, 
and babble joyfully on, rippling with smiles and laughter as 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


318 

it went, bright and clear and pure and beautiful, a happy, 
living stream. 

Into its clear depths Kitty sat gazing in silence, the curate 
lying on the grass beside her, his face supported by his 
hands as he leant on his elbows and watched her. 

She was trying to understand the river ; he was trying to 
understand her. Its music soothed her troubled spirit ; just 
as she sometimes was carried away into another world by the 
sound of her violin, which seemed to bear her away in spite 
of herself, so she now felt the Lathkild was bearing her 
away on its bosom into a brighter and happier world. As 
it bore her it seemed to lull her to rest with its soft, rippling 
music, and her overstrained nerves were soothed by its 
whispers. 

Poor little Kitty ; hers was an emotional nature, eminently 
feminine, a highly strung, nervous temperament with a vein 
of poetry running through it, apt to degenerate into hysteria 
if overwrought — a nature endowed with great capacities 
for suffering ; a nature as far removed from that of the 
healthy, athletic, muscular, practical, sensible, prosaic man 
by her side as the east is from the west. 

Yet he understood something of what she was thinking 
and feeling, or he thought he did ; he knew she had suf- 
fered ; he saw she was happier than she had been ; he felt 
if he could only teach her to forget Alec Willoughby, and 
think a little of Edwin Long, how happy he could make her. 

If she would play less on that violin, of which he was 
jealous, though he would not have confessed it, and take 
an interest in the cricket matches he got up for the men in 
his parish — if she would read fewer novels and less poetry, 
and occupy herself in keeping house for him instead, how 
much happier and better in every way she would be. 

How he would love her and protect her from every ill. 
What a little pale, delicate thing she was. What were such 
healthy, strong, active men as he for if not to take care of 
such women as Kitty Arundel ? 

Surely, that was the part they were intended to play in the 
economy of the universe. 

Suddenly without a word of preface, as Kitty sat dreamily 
gazing into the transparent waters of the Lathkild, listening 
to its eternal song, he said : 


THE SOURCE OF THE LATHKILD. 319 

“ Kitty, will you marry me ? " 

Kitty started, and the red blood rushed into her pale 
cheeks, but she did not speak. 

Perhaps the Lathkild was saying something to her in an 
undertone as well as the curate. 

Mr. Long continued : 

“I am rich, if I have little else to recommend me ; and 
I love you with all my heart. I will make you happy 
if it be possible for any man to do so ; and I will wait pa- 
tiently for you if you will only give me hope. Will you, 
Kitty ? ” 

“ Not yet,” said Kitty gently, and with a sudden impulse 
she bent toward him and kissed his forehead. 

As she did so it seemed to her as if a burden were lifted 
from her heart, and rolled into the river at her feet, and she 
stood up feeling free, with the freedom only those who have 
been bound by the chains of passion can know. 

There was not a happier man in England that August 
afternoon than Edwin Long, curate. 

The general took it into his head to drive back with 
Kitty and Mr. Long, so the groom went on the back of the 
dogcart. The reason of this change became apparent when 
they reached Workwell, where the general desired them to 
stop at the fishmonger’s to get some fish for dinner. The 
fishmonger’s was next door to a draper’s, and as they drew 
up at his shop Mr. Savage came out of the draper’s with a 
large parcel under his arm. He saluted them nervously and 
hurried up the street, apparently put out by the meeting. 

“ I wonder what Savage is up to,” said the general as he 
got down to choose his fish. 

On his return to the carriage the draper stopped him, and 
with profuse apologies for doing so asked if the general 
could tell him if there were to be a fancy ball in the neigh- 
borhood shortly. 

“ Not that I know of ; why ? ” 

Only because Mr. Savage has been buying large quan- 
tities of cotton wool of us, and I can’t think what he wants 
it for, unless, as my wife suggests, it is for a fancy dress.” 

“ It may be. I can’t say. It seems rather odd, but then 
he is an odd man. At any rate he can’t do much harm 
with cotton wool, can he ? ” 


320 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


I should say not, general. It is very inflammable, you 
know, sir,” said the draper as the general got into the pony 
carriage. 

“ Inflammable ? Yes, of course it is. Good-night to 
you, ” said the general, and they drove off, Mr. Long and 
the general speculating on what use Mr. Savage meant to 
make of the cotton wool. 

Mr. Long drove them home to Greenhouse, and then 
walked back to take a service ; he went the shortest way, 
which led past Mr. Barrett’s new house and past The Dell. 
It was getting dusk when he reached Dell Court, but he 
could distinguish the figure of a man, whom he afterward 
recognized as Mr. Savage, coming out of the drive. 

I wonder what he is doing here. He has got rid of his 
cotton wool, anyhow,” thought Mr. Long as Mr. Savage 
strode rapidly on in front of him down to The Dell, and Mr. 
Long was too much occupied with the remembrance of that 
kiss given by the source of the Lathkild to pay any further 
attention to him. 

Mr. B-arrett’s ball was looked forward to with almost as 
much pleasure at Greenhouse as it was at The Cottage ; Sir 
Claude was to come over for it, and a few days before it 
was to come off Kitty asked Virginia if she would mind 
asking the Rajah to let Alec come home for it. 

Why, dear ? ” said Virginia rather anxiously. 

“ Because it will please Lily Vaughan and Alec, and it 
won’t affect me. I no longer care for Alec. Vi, we both 
made a mistake, and it is lucky we found it out in time.” 

“ When did you find it out, Kitty ? ” said Virginia. 

That day we went to the source of the Lathkild. I 
have never felt the same to Alec since, and I never shall 
again.” 

In spite of this assertion Kitty was rather anxious to 
know how she would feel when she saw Alec again, which 
she did not do till the night of the ball, when he rather 
shamefacedly asked her for a dance, but to her relief their 
cards were nearly full and they could not arrange one. 

She saw him with Lily again and again in the course of 
the evening, and she saw him look at Lily as he had never 
looked at her, and she knew for a certainty what before she 
had only suspected, that he had never loved her, and the 


THE SOURCE OF THE LATHKILD. 


321 


knowledge strengthened her to forget she had ever loved 
him. 

Perhaps it also made her kinder to Mr. Long than she had 
ever been before ; at any rate he had no cause to complain 
of being snubbed, for Kitty showed no objection to spend- 
a great part of her evening with him. 

“ I wonder how many engaged couples there are in the 
room to-night besides the three we know,” he remarked as 
he led her into the conservatory shortly before supper. 

“ I don’t know. All I know is I have made up my mind 
never to be engaged again,” said Kitty. 

“You have ! Kitty, are you serious?” said the curate 
in a tone of dismay. 

“ Perfectly serious ; why should I not be ?” 

“ What do you mean ? Surely you don’t mean that you 
will never marry ? ” 

“ I did not say I would never marry,” said Kitty coyly. 
“ I said I would never be engaged again, and I never will. 
I could not bear being congratulated and talked about and 
watched ; and I should detest a grand wedding, and being 
dressed up as if I were going to a ball instead of to church 
for the most solemn service in the prayer book.” 

“I agree about the grand wedding entirely ; but how are 
people to be married if they are never to be engaged ? ” 

“ I don’t mind much what other people do ; do you ? ” 
said Kitty. 

“ Perhaps not, but I mind very much what you do. I 
should like very much to know what you would like to 
do.” 

“ Well, I should like the man I mean to marry to come to 
me one day and say, ‘ Kitty, let us go to church this morning 
and be married,’ and then just to walk into church quietly 
and be married, and go away and leave Workwell to its 
nine days’ wonder.” 

“ It is not a bad plan ; but you know you would have to 
have a special license, and even then you could not do it 
while you are a minor.” 

“ True ; but I shan’t be a minor much longer ; on the 
14th of February, next Valentine’s Day, I shall be twenty- 
one.” 

“Very well. Now supposing that on next Valentine's Day 


322 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


I were to come to you and say, ‘ Kitty, let’s go to church and 
be married this morning,’ what would you say ? ” 

“ I don’t know,” said Kitty, blushing. 

“ What would you do ? ” 

Kitty spoke so low he had to bend close to her to hear 
her answer, but it was highly satisfactory when heard, for it 
was this : 

“ I should go.” 

At this juncture their privacy was disturbed by the 
entrance of Mr. Barrett and Lottie, and Mr. Long felt 
inclined to indulge in some unclerical expression of annoy- 
ance, but he choked it down and led Kitty into the garden. 

The garden was not a very attractive place, for it was at 
present in a very rough state ; the beds were not even made, 
and the gravel, though laid, was not yet rolled ; so they sat 
down on the conservatory steps. At any rate they were 
alone. 

While they were sitting there the sound of the band, now 
playing a galop, and the subdued murmur of voices reached 
them from the ballroom, but outside all was still ; the great 
stars looked calmly down from the blue depths of space, 
and a great calmness seemed to enter Kitty’s soul. Some- 
how her hand had found its way into Mr. Long’s, and they 
sat there silent, but hand in hand, quite contented. If he 
were the more moved of the two at having just obtained 
his heart’s desire he was too wise to show it. 

Presently the outside stillness was interrupted by the 
sound of footsteps on the gravel, and although the conserva- 
tory steps were up a little path, a few yards from the wide 
path, so that they were not likely to be observed, though 
they had a full view of anyone passing, Kitty withdrew her 
hand. 

The next minute a gentleman in evening dress whom they 
recognized as Mr. Savage walked quickly and furtively 
past. 

“ It is old Savage. Where can he be going ? ” said Mr. 
Long. 

“ I am glad he did not see us ; I am afraid of him,” said 
Kitty. 

“ He is quite harmless, I believe,” said Mr. Long, and 
then they lapsed into silence again. 


MR. SA FACE'S REVEN'GE. 


323 


A minute or two later the conservatory door was opened 
by Mr. Barrett with Lottie on his arm, and when they had 
gone away, with a brief apology, Kitty suggested they should 
go indoors, as the band had ceased, and supper was to follow 
this last dance. 

They had scarcely got into the conservatory when Mr. 
Savage, with a large brown paper parcel under each arm, 
hurried past the steps from the direction in which they 
had seen him disappear. Had he been a minute or two 
earlier they must have seen him. Mr. Long’s suspicions 
would have been aroused, and probably a great catastrophe 
would have been avoided. 

Dits aliter visum. 


CHAPTER XXXV. 

MR. savage’s revenge. 

The last few weeks before the ball had been a very busy 
time with Lottie and her lover, there was so much to do at 
Dell Court, which was being partially furnished before the 
I St ; and at the end of August Mr. Barrett moved up there 
with his coachman and wife to look after him. On the night 
of the ball two bachelor friends of Mr. Barrett’s were also 
to sleep in the house ; one was one of his most intimate 
friends, a Mr. Cartwright, a rising surgeon from Chester- 
field, who was also to be the best man at his wedding ; the 
other he was very mysterious about, and it was not till the 
night of the ball that the Vaughans discovered it was Alec 
Willoughby, who had obtained leave of his father to come, 
but it was considered better for all parties that he should 
not stay at Greenhouse. 

The Vaughans were the first to arrive, as Lottie was to 
help to receive the guests. The Savages were the next to 
come, Mr. Savage looking exceedingly handsome, and appear- 
ing to be quite sane. Then came the two curates Mr. Short 
and Mr. Long. Mr. Green-Turner had declined the invita- 
tion ostensibly because he did not think “priests ” were in 
their right place in a ballroom, really because he and Gen- 
eral Willoughby were just now not on speaking terms. 


324 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


They had had a tiff on the subject of Mr. Long, Mr. 
Green-Turner disapproving of his visiting Kitty, because 
he, as her “ parish priest,” had a prior claim. The general 
had flared up at this ; the word “ priest ” was to him as a 
red rag is to a mad bull ; and he declared no “ priest” nor 
puppy calling himself a “ priest ” should ever darken his 
doors. Mr. Green-Turner had, of course, been highly 
indignant, and left the house in a gale, had cut the general, 
and been on stilts with the family ever since. 

The Willoughbys arrived rather late at the ball. Virginia 
looked exceedingly handsome in white silk and scarlet flow- 
ers, and Kitty quite pretty in an exquisite dress of palest green, 
which suited her white complexion and auburn hair exactly. 

Sir Claude was with them, and Mrs. Willoughby, who 
hoped to have the felicity of introducing her future son-in- 
law to her ducal cousin, was, as Jack remarked, “in great 
form that evening.” 

There was a large party from the Castle, and the duke 
honored his agent with his august presence for an hour or 
so, during which time he devoted himself to cultivating 
Lottie’s acquaintance, and his intercourse with Mrs. Wil- 
loughby was of the briefest description. 

His Grace danced the lancers with Lottie, with Sir 
Claude and Virginia for their vis-a-vis, and if only Alec 
and Kitty had been in the same set Mrs. Willoughby would 
have been perfectly happy. 

Perfect happiness, however, is not for this world. The 
rose may be perfect, but the thorn is there. 

Lottie would willingly have changed places with Kitty, 
who was dancing in another set with Mr. Barrett, Alec, and 
Lily. Mr. Barrett had given her up to the duke, though he 
was only engaged to her for the cotillion at the end of the 
evening. He opened the ball with her in a quadrille, and 
informed her that he was not going to ask her for a round 
dance, because she was the best dancer in the room and he 
one of the worst. 

This was quite true. So Lottie filled her card and pre- 
tended to be quite satisfied, and all the time would rather 
have danced with him than with the best dancers in the 
world, fond as she was of dancing, and particular as she was 
about good partners. 


MR. SAVAGE'S REVENGE. 325 

The duke left before supper, and as Mr. Barrett came 
back from seeing him off he passed Lottie just standing up 
to dance a galop with Jack. 

“ Will you give me this dance instead of those lancers ?” 
he asked. 

Lottie agreed, and hoped he meant to dance it with her, 
but instead he proposed they should sit it out, and led her 
into the conservatory for that purpose. 

As they entered the conservatory, which was dimly, if not 
religiously, lighted with Chinese lanterns, they came upon 
Kitty Arundel and Mr. Long standing very close together 
among the palms, and Lottie felt certain his arm was round 
her waist. They moved into the garden as the others 
entered. 

“ They won’t find much there, and she’ll spoil her shoes 
on all that rough gravel,” said Barrett. 

“ I don’t suppose she’ll mind that. I believe she is going 
to console Mr. Long with the same consolation with whicli 
she herself is consoled,” said Lottie. 

In plainer and more reverent language, you mean it is 
a case,” said Mr. Barrett. 

“ I do. All I hope is experience has taught her to be 
wiser with him than she was when engaged to Alec.” 

Wasn’t she wise then ? ” 

“ Wise ! She was most foolish. Why, she let him see 
she cared for him.” 

“ Is that foolish if she did care for him ?” 

“ Foolish ! It is fatal. Men only care for what they 
can’t get. They don’t care for a woman’s love any more 
than they care for a fox’s brush ; they like trying to win 
both, and the longer and harder the run the better they 
like it.” 

“ You are very wise, Lottie ; very wise. Clever I always 
knew you were. I did not know you were wise also,” said 
Barrett, seating himself opposite to Lottie, and looking 
closely at her, so that no detail of her dress and person 
escaped him. 

Her beautiful hair was somewhat elaborately dressed in a 
crown of plaits, in the center of which was a turquoise 
star. Her dress was of pale blue silk, and she carried a 
bouquet of lovely roses which he had given her. 


326 


LOTTIE'S WOOING, 


She was not the prettiest girl in the room, but she was 
one of the most attractive. She was the best figure, the 
best dancer, and, as the general said, the best groomed and 
the best turned out girl present. Lottie did not understand 
Mr. Barrett’s tone. Did he mean what he said, or was he 
laughing at her ? 

“You have not found out all my good qualities yet, nor 
my bad ones neither,” said Lottie. 

“ I don’t for one moment imagine that I have. I don’t 
aspire to such perfect knowledge of your sex as you appear 
to possess of mine. Were you ever mistaken in your 
estimate of a man ? ” 

“ No, never.” 

“ And you can read me as easily as all the rest, of 
course ?” he said, leaning forward. 

Lottie hesitated and toyed with her fan, and then sud- 
denly she looked up at him, and, leaning forward so that 
their faces were close together, said with a pretty, provoking 
air : 

“ No, I can’t, although you are my future husband. 
I honestly confess I know no more of you really now than 
I did the week after I came here. 

“ And yet you mean to trust yourself to me for life ? ” 

“ Yes. It is very foolish of me, I know, but I do,” said 
Lottie, with a bitter little laugh. 

“ Why ? ” said Barrett in a lower tone. 

Lottie leant back in her chair. She shivered slightly 
and her heart beat quickly, and she longed to say, “ Because 
I love you.” 

Perhaps if she had looked up at that honest face, now 
pale as her palest rose, bent so anxiously on her, she would 
have said it, but she did not look up. She rallied, and, put- 
ting down her fan, proceeded to check off her reasons on 
her fingers. 

“ Because the duke trusts you ; why should not I ? 
Because Miss Savage trusts you, and she has known you 
longer than I have. Because all the people about here 
trust you, and I suppose they are not all fools, though 
I dare say a great many of them are. Because Sell trusts 
you, and dogs are excellent judges. Above all, because you 
do things to please me now, and I am such a goose that 


MR. S A FACE'S REVENGE. 


327 


I actually hope you will do things to please me then, though 
of course I know you won’t. You will expect me to do 
things to please you then.” 

“And shall you do them ? ” 

“ Sometimes, not always. Their charm would pall on 
you if I did.” 

“ I am not afraid of that.” 

“ No, but I am. You know it would be a serious thing 
for little Lottie if you were to fall sick unto death of her 
and her little ways a month after her wedding.” 

“ I know it will be a very serious thing indeed for little 
Lottie if she has not more faith in my constancy after 
marriage than she has now,” said Mr. Barrett very gravely. 

“ Will it ? ” said Lottie, rising. 

“ Yes, by Heaven, it will,” said Barrett, seizing her arm, 
but at that moment another couple entered the conserva- 
tory, and they were no longer alone. 

1 “ Come out,” he whispered, leading her to the other door, 
but there they found Kitty and Mr. Long sitting outside on 
the steps, and the ever practical Lottie suggested they 
should go in to supper. 

They were not alone again all the evening, and before 
others they were the most matter of fact lovers possible. 
But Lottie was conscious that she had enjoyed the scene in 
the conservatory more than all the dances she had danced 
put together. 

“ Have you seen my father? ” said Miss Savage to Lottie 
about four o’clock, when the room was nearly empty and 
almost everyone had left. Lottie had not seen him since 
supper, and on further inquiry it appeared that no one else 
had. 

“ He must have walked home alone,” said Miss Savage to 
Mr. Barrett as he put her into her fly, but he saw she was 
nervous, and told her to send the fly back if her father were 
not at home when she got there, and he would look for him. 
None of the waiters had seen him leave the house, and Bar- 
rett’s own man, who was acting as porter, was sure he had 
not gone out the front door. 

Everyone had now left except the Vaughans, and in see- 
ing them off Mr. Barrett and Alec Willoughby forgot all 
about Mr. Savage. At last the girls were safely packed into 


328 


LOTTIES WOOING. 


the carriage, and amid a fire of jokes drove off, and the dis- 
consolate lovers, with Dr. Cartwright teasing them, went into 
the study to smoke a pipe before going to bed. 

They had just seated themselves comfortably when a 
message came from The Dell to say Mr. Savage had not 
returned, and Barrett’s coachman, who delivered it, added 
that his hat was in the hall, so that apparently he had not 
left the house. 

“ Perhaps he is upstairs,” suggested Alec. 

“ Let him stay there, then,” said Dr. Cartwright. 

“ My dear fellow, he is cracked ; that is why we are uneasy. 
I hope he is not up to any mischief. I must go and look 
for him,” said Mr. Barrett, rising. 

Scarcely were the words out of his mouth when a strong 
smell of burning entered the study in which they were 
sitting. 

“ Hallo ! what a smell of fire, Barrett,” said Dr. Cart- 
wright. ^ 

“There is indeed,” said Mr. Barrett, rushing from the 
room, and the next minute Alec and Dr. Cartwright heard 
him give the alarm. 

“Fire ! Willoughby ! Cartwright ! the house is on fire ! ” 
he cried from the top of the stairs. 

The two men ran upstairs after him, followed by the 
coachman and the waiters who had been at supper, and 
fortunately had not yet left. On reaching the top of the 
stairs they saw smoke coming from every room on that floor, 
not one of which was it possible to enter, as all were locked 
except one door, the door of Barrett’s bedroom, and on 
opening that such a rush of smoke poured out that they 
were only too glad to retreat hastily. 

Mr. Barrett was the coolest and most collected of the 
party, and gave his orders clearly and decidedly without any 
fuss or hesitation. 

“ The whole of these rooms are on fire. We can’t possibly 
save the house ; we may save the furniture downstairs by 
removing it to the stables. George, go to Workwell at once 
for the fire engine, and tell them to telegraph for others. If 
you other men will help me and my friends to rescue the 
furniture and carpets I will pay you well. The stables are 
quite safe,” said Barrett. 


MR. SAVAGE'S REVENGE. 


329 


The coachman did not wait to be told twice to go for the 
fire engine, and Alec, Dr. Cartwright, and Mr. Barrett pulled 
off their dress coats and worked like Trojans at moving the 
carpets and furniture from the lower rooms to the stable and 
coachhouse. No pictures nor curtains had yet been hung, 
nor had any books nor ornaments yet arrived ; and the draw- 
ing room had been cleared for dancing, so the carpet was 
up and most of the furniture was in the hall. 

By the time the fire engines arrived the drawing room 
furniture was all safe, and that from Mr. Barrett’s study 
also. The dining room took longer, because there was all the 
supper table to clear ; the coachman’s wife did this while 
the others were moving the furniture. 

When the firemen arrived they found the whole house full 
of smoke ; the garden was lighted by the flames, which were 
shooting in great tongues of fire from some of the windows. 
The fire apparently originated in Mr. Barrett’s bedroom, and 
the engine was at once set to play on that, and a hose was 
taken upstairs by some of the firemen, who, being accustomed 
to smoke, were able to enter the room after a little while. 
Half Workwell was roused by this time, and the curates 
found no difficulty in organizing a chain to bring water 
from the river which ran below. 

Suddenly, in the midst of the cracking and roaring of the 
fire, the shouts of the men, and the hissing of the water, a 
man was seen to fling open one of the upper windows and 
yell frantically, apparently with delight rather than with 
fear. It was a wild, unearthly cry, recognized in all that 
tumult as the cry of a madman. 

Looking up Alec and Mr. Barrett, who were returning 
from the stable for another load, saw the man was Mr. Sav- 
age, and there was no doubt in the minds of either how the 
fire originated ; but there was no time to think of that ; all 
they thought of was how to save the victim from his own 
madness. To approach him from the inside of the house 
was impossible, as the room he was in was Mr. Barrett’s 
dressing room, the only entrance to which was through his 
bedroom, at present quite impassable. 

The only way to rescue him was by the window. There 
was no fire escape, but fortunately there were some building 
ladders on the premises, and Mr. Barrett and Alec imme- 


330 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


diately went for one of these, placed it against the window, 
and shouted to Mr. Savage, who was accustomed to climb- 
ing, to come down by it. 

To this, however, he either could not or would not pay 
any attention, and Barrett, fearing if he delayed much 
longer the flames from the next room would reach the lad- 
der, decided that he must go up and fetch him, and before 
Alec had time to do more than confound the madman for 
his folly, Mr. Barrett had mounted the ladder and disap- 
peared into the house. 

He had more influence over the unfortunate man than 
anyone except Miss Savage, and he soon induced him to get 
out of the window and descend the ladder. Mr. Savage 
was a far better hand at going up and down ladders than 
Mr. Barrett, and had got more than halfway down in safety 
when suddenly, just as Mr. Barrett was preparing to follow 
him, and before Alec Willoughby, who was watching the 
process from below, had time to prevent it, the ladder 
swerved violently to one side, and fell to the ground on the 
top of Mr. Savage. 

Alec, seeing the flames would render it impossible to 
reach Mr. Barrett if he stopped to examine and pick up the 
groaning madman, shouted to someone to come and help 
him to replace the ladder and save Barrett. Dr. Cartwright 
responded, and they were in the act of raising the ladder 
when a wild, shrill cry of “ George ! George ! " rose above 
all the other horrible noises, and Lottie, her blue silk 
ball dress trailing below her ulster, rushed on to the 
scene. 

To account for her presence we must go back for an hour 
or two and follow her to The Cottage. 

On reaching home after the ball Mrs. Vaughan went 
straight to bed, but Lottie and Lily sat up in their own room 
talking it over instead of undressing, while Jack, whom they 
left downstairs to smoke a pipe, fell sound asleep in his 
mother’s easy-chair. 

Lottie was in rather a dreamy mood. She was thinking 
of her sphinx and trying to read his riddle while she dis- 
cussed with Lily, who was interested in the subject, Kitty’s 
relations with Mr. Long. She and Alec had come across 
the pair under suspicious circumstances once or twice, and 


MR. SAVAGE'S REVENGE. 


331 


on comparing notes with Lily she decided it must certainly 
be a case. 

Presently Lottie, who had taken off her satin shoes and 
her ornaments, and was now unlacing her dress, went to the 
window, drew aside the curtain, and, looking out, gave 
a scream of terror. 

“ Oh, horror ! Lil ! Dell Court is on fire ! ” she 
exclaimed. 

“ Nonsense ! ” said Lily, running to the window, from 
which Dell Court, with smoke and flames issuing from the 
upper windows, could now be seen. 

“O George! George! George! I must go to him! I 
must ! I must ! ” exclaimed Lottie in an unnatural voice as 
she slipped on some shoes and an ulster, and, before Lily 
could stop her, rushed downstairs like a madwoman. 

“Lottie, don’t go. Please don’t go. Jack, don’t let her 
go. The shock of the fire nearly killed her before. Don’t 
take her, Jack,” cried Lily, wringing her little hands and 
sobbing with fear and distress. 

“ Jack ! wake, I say ! Dell Court is on fire. Take me 
there or I must go alone,” cried Lottie, shaking the sleepy 
Jack. 

“ What ! What do you say ? Where ? What ? When ? Dell 
Court on fire. All right ; I am awake. Lottie, how pale you 
look ! ” exclaimed Jack as he tried to grasp the situation 
while Lottie grasped him. 

“ Lottie, darling, you cannot put the fire out. Don’t go,” 
pleaded Lily. 

“ Don’t go ! Why, do you suppose I am going to bed, 
while the man I am engaged to is perhaps being burnt to 
death ? I am going,” said Lottie, still in a strange voice. 
She was very pale and trembling with excitement. 

“ Dell Court on fire ! Great Scott ! so it is. Come on, 
Lottie ; I’ll take you if you like. I shall go, of course. 
Catch hold of my arm,” said Jack, who by this time had 
reached and opened the hall door, from whence the fire was 
visible enough. 

Dell Court was about a mile from The Cottage, and it was 
uphill all the way, but in twenty minutes from the time 
Lottie first saw the flames she and Jack were in the 
garden. 


332 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


“Where is Mr. Barrett?" asked Lottie of the first fire- 
man she saw. 

“ Round there, ma’am," said the man, pointing to the 
front of the house. 

At that moment Lottie heard Alec shouting for “ help to 
save Barrett," and, followed by Jack, she rushed to the spot 
the fireman had indicated, arriving just after the accident to 
Mr. Savage, exclaiming, “ George ! George ! " as she ran. 

Lottie saw a man stretched groaning on the ground, and 
concluded it was Mr. Barrett, and before they could unde- 
ceive her she had tottered and sank fainting on to the 
ground. 

Lottie’s cry of “ George ! George ! ’’ had reached Mr. 
Barrett’s ears above the din around him, and he descended 
the ladder in haste, and, kneeling by her side, bent over 
her, and muttered under his breath something which sounded 
like : 

“ My love ! Is she hurt ? ’’ ^ 

“No, she has only fainted. She would come," said Jack. 

Mr. Barrett said not another word, but picked Lottie up 
in his arms and carried her to the coachhouse, where he 
left her under the charge of his coachman’s wife, while he 
went back to see after Mr. Savage. 

He found Dr. Cartwright examining him, while Alec and 
Jack were improvising a stretcher. 

“ Is he much hurt ? ’’ 

“ Thigh fractured, compound fracture. Where does he 
live ? Is it far from here ? ’’ asked Dr. Cartwright. 

“ No, about half a mile." 

“ Well, we had better take him home at once. He will 
never move from the place he is taken to again but once, 
poor fellow. I’ll put the leg into temporary splints," said 
the doctor in an undertone. 

“ What a mercy you are here, Cartwright. I will go on 
in front of you and prepare his daughter ; the shock will 
half kill her. Can you manage to move him ?’’ said Barrett. 

“Yes. I shall have him there in half an hour," said Dr. 
Cartwright, who was quite in his element with a broken limb 
to set. “And, Barrett, there is a gleam of comfort you may 
carry with you : he has recovered his reason ; t he shock has 
cured him. But the case is hopeless. I fear it is only a 


MR, SA FACE’S RE FENCE. 333 

question of a few days,” he added as Mr. Barrett was about 
to start. 

“ Thank God ! Poor fellow, he must have flung himself 
off the ladder. I shall tell her it was an accident,” said 
Barrett. 

“Yes, he did ; Willoughby saw him do so, but he could 
not stop him,” said Dr. Cartwright, inwardly wondering 
what Barrett was so thankful for. 

This hurried conversation took place while Jack and Alec 
were gone for a stretcher on which to place and move the 
injured man ; and at its close Mr. Barrett hurried to The 
Dell to break the news to his friend, who, having seen the 
fire, would be partly prepared for bad news, for she would 
know as well as Mr. Barrett did who had caused the 
fire. 

Meanwhile the day began to break, and what had been a 
picturesque scene by night became ugly and horrible by 
day. Smoke and flames were still issuing from the upper 
windows, but the house being new and not thoroughly dry, 
did not burn so quickly as another house would have done, 
and fortunately there was not a breath of wind to fan the 
flame. 

Before Mr. Barrett returned the head fireman reported to 
Jack and Alec that they were getting the fire under, and 
though the ceilings of the first floor were destroyed, there 
was no danger of the fire reaching the roof, nor were the 
outside walls much damaged. At six o’clock two larger 
engines arrived, and the fireman hoped in a few hours the 
fire would be extinguished. It was bad enough, but it might 
have been much worse. Had it been a windy night, and had 
the fire not been discovered as soon as it was, the whole 
house must have been destroyed. 

Fortunately the house was insured, but none of the furni- 
ture was ; however, most of that had been saved. Three of 
the bedrooms had only been roughly and temporarily fur- 
nished ; the others were empty. 

All this Jack told Lottie from time to time as he ran into 
the coachhouse to pay her a flying visit. The coachman’s 
wife refused to let Lottie leave the stable until her master 
returned, and at first Lottie was so worn out with fatigue 
and excitement that she showed no desire to move. 


334 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


At six o’clock Lottie got up and announced her intention 
of going home and going to bed. 

“ The fire is getting lower ; it will soon be extinguished 
now. I can do no good here. No one is hurt except Mr. 
Savage, and I am not wanted. Mr. Barrett has Miss Savage 
to look after ; two fainting women would be too much for 
him,” said Lottie as she begged Jack to see her home. 

She was angry with herself for having shown so much 
anxiety about Mr. Barrett, angry with him for staying so 
long at The Dell, angriest of all with the poor madman, 
who, she knew, had caused the disaster ; so she was 
determined to go home in spite of the woman’s remon- 
strances. 

“Poor old Savage has done for himself. His spine is 
injured ; he can’t recover,” said Jack on the way home. 

“ What an end ! ” said Lottie, with a sigh of despair, 
which was certainly not wrung from her solely on Mr. 
Savage’s account. 

The thought which occurred to her was this: “ Miss Savage 
refused George on her father’s account ; if he dies she would 
marry George if he were free. I suppose I must set him 
free. I am too tired to think about it to-night — to-day, I 
mean. I want to go to sleep, and I don’t much care if I 
never wake again.” 

“ I’ll go back to the fire, Lottie ; I may be of use ; but you 
had better go to bed,” said Jack as Lily came to the hall to 
receive them. 

“ I am going to bed. I am utterly worn out. ‘ Life’s 
fitful fever ’ is wearing me to a packthread. If I never 
wake again don’t disturb me, Lil. I am too tired to talk. 
Jack must tell you all about it. He has been of use ; I was 
only in the way,” said Lottie as she crawled upstairs, and a 
quarter of an hour later was sound asleep. 


LOTTIE'S PENANCE. 


335 


CHAPTER XXXVI. 

Lottie’s penance. 

Lottie did not wake till one o’clock the next day, and 
when she did wake, it was with a confused sense of trouble 
hanging over her. 

“ What has happened, Lily ? It is all over, isn’t it ? I 
forget exactly how or why ? ” she said as she sat up in bed, 
and saw Lily reading by the window. 

“Yes, dear, it is all over. It was a fire at Dell Court, you 
know, but it is out now, and no one was hurt except poor 
Mr. Savage, and he can’t recover ; it is quite hopeless.” 

“ Yes, yes ; I know. It is quite hopeless. Oh, the fire 
is out, is it ? I remember it all now perfectly, and oh, how 
I wish I didn’t ! ” said Lottie bitterly. 

“ The house is insured and the furniture is saved, so Mr. 
Barrett won’t lose much money ; the nuisance is you won’t 
be able to live in the house this year. George has moved 
back to the hotel already. He has been here twice to ask 
for you, busy as he is to-day.” 

“ I suppose I must get up, but I have nothing to get up 
for,” said Lottie, somewhat irrelevantly. 

“ Are you ill, Lottie, dear ? ” 

“ No, I am quite well ; I am only weary. I agree with 
Solomon, ‘ everything is vanity and vexation of spirit,’ ” said 
Lottie, getting out of bed. 

“ Lottie is in a very strange mood ; I knew the fire would 
make her ill again ; she has never recovered from the shock 
of the other ; she never ought to have gone to this one,” said 
Lily to her mother and Jack. 

Lottie continued to be in a very strange mood for some 
days. Mr. Barrett came in the evening, and to him she was 
equally strange, but whereas to the others she did not seem 
to care the least about the fire, to him she did nothing but 
bemoan the damage done to the house, and the consequent 
delay before it could be inhabited. 

“ It won’t affect our wedding, you know ; we must hire a 
furnished house or travel till Dell Court is ready,” said 
Barrett. 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 




“I am afraid you will find it will affect our wedding very 
much indeed,” said Lottie ; but Mr. Barrett could not get 
her to explain how. 

The following day, that is to say two days after the fire, 
Mr. Savage died, and Lottie spent the greater part of the 
day, after she heard the news, in tears, to the great astonish- 
ment of Lily. 

“ I can’t understand her ; she never could bear Mr. 
Savage, and now she is grieving for him as if he were her 
greatest friend,” said Lily. 

Mr. Barrett did not come to The Cottage at all on the 
day of Mr. Savage’s death. He had all the arrangements to 
make for his funeral and spent the evening at The Dell, and 
for the next few days he was so busy that he only saw 
Lottie now and then for a few minutes. 

She continued to be a puzzle to her family. She was evi- 
dently far from well, and also evidently very unhappy, and 
Mrs. Vaughan suggested she should go to Matlock or 
Buxton for a few days, to get back her spirits before her 
wedding. 

“ It is so unlucky to postpone a wedding ; you had far 
better go away for a little change^ or you won’t be well 
enough to be married,” said Mrs. Vaughan. 

“ My wedding will very likely have to be postponed alto- 
gether,” said Lottie, who ought to have been at Manchester 
trying on her wedding dress, but she had not cared to go 
alone, and Mr. Barrett was too busy to take her. 

“ What do you mean, child ? ” 

What I say. Everyone knows and says I am marrying 
Mr. Barrett for the sake of living in Dell Court, and as Dell 
Court is burnt, why should I marry him?” said Lottie 
bitterly. 

“ He will think you very mean and heartless if you 
don’t.” 

“ Not he. He can marry Marion Savage now her father 
is dead. She is far more worthy of him than I am.” 

“ Nonsense, Lottie. I am quite sure he won’t do any- 
thing of the kind,” said Mrs. Vaughan. 

“ We shall see when Mr. Savage is buried. Nothing can 
be said or done till then,” said Lottie in a listless way, very 
unlike her usual manner. 


AOrr/E'S PENANCE. 


337 


1 am like you, Lily. I don’t understand Lottie at all ! 
I never saw a girl so altered in my life as she has been 
lately. She is miserable. My belief is, she is jealous of 
^Ir. Barrett going so much to The Dell. I shall give him 
a hint the next time I see him,” said Mrs. Vaughan. 

“ I think she wants to get out of her engagement, and is 
trying to find a way of doing so honorably. I never thought 
she cared for him, nor he for her,” said Lily. 

“ Don’t tell me that, Lily. I don’t know so much about 
him, but I am sure of this, Lottie is ready to fall down and 
worship the ground he walks on, and as I said before, 
I believe she is jealous of Miss Savage,” said Mrs. 
Vaughan, whose mother’s instinct led her to read her 
daughter rightly. 

This conversation took place on the day of Mr. Savage’s 
funeral ; and in the evening Mr. Barrett brought a message 
from Miss Savage to Lottie, asking her to go and spend the 
following afternoon with her. 

“ Poor Marion is so distressed about the fire, she thinks 
you can never forgive her or poor Savage, notwithstanding 
all I may say to the contrary ; so if you can persuade her 
you don’t care very much about it, please do,” said Mr. 
Barrett. 

Lottie promised to do her best, and the next day went 
to The Dell, where she found Miss Savage looking very sad 
and very ill, though quite calm and resigned. She spoke 
of her father, told Lottie all about his accident, and said 
what a comfort it was to her that he had been perfectly 
rational and quite himself for the last few days of his 
life. 

“ He was like an exorcised man. I could not wish him to 
live, for fear he might lose his reason again, and I would 
far rather he died sane than that he lived to become insane 
again,” said Miss Savage. 

“ It will be very lonely for you now,” said Lottie. 

“ Yes, it must be that, particularly at first ; but’ I am going 
to adopt a child. I am one of those unfortunate spinsters 
who never see a pretty child without a pang of envy and 
regret. I should have adopted one sooner, only my father’s 
health prevented me from doing so. But I am talking all 
about myself. I want to hear all about you. You are not 


338 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


looking at all well, Lottie, dear, and -I thought I never saw 
you look better than you did at the ball.” 

“ I am only tired,” said Lottie. 

“ I can’t tell you how grieved I am about Dell Court. 
I have offered to turn out of The Dell and let you and 
George live here till the house is ready, if you both like the 
plan,” said Miss Savage, who was looking very handsome in 
her deep mourning, which contrasted well with her snow- 
white hair and bright complexion. 

“ I am sure George won’t agree to that, and if he did 
I certainly should not,” said Lottie, with more animation 
than she had displayed all through the visit. 

On leaving The Dell, she went up to Dell Court to look 
at the scene of the fire. Outside, the damage done was bad 
enough. The new stone was blackened with the smoke and 
scorched by the flames ; the window frames in the upper 
rooms were all burnt and the glass melted and broken. 
Inside the house the downstairs rooms, which had been so 
gay and bright on the night of the ball, were now empty 
and swamped with water from the hose, and the walls were 
black with smoke. 

Lottie had not the courage to go upstairs, where the 
devastation was much greater, and where, as the coachman’s 
wife told her, the walls were still quite warm ; so she strolled 
into the conservatory, and sat down in the same place 
where she had sat with Mr. Barrett on the night of the 
ball. 

“ It seems years ago,” thought Lottie ; “ I was happy then, 
perfectly happy, comparatively speaking ; now it is all over. 
I can’t marry him. I can’t say I have lost him because I 
never won him. I caught him. Now I must give him up to 
that poor, lonely woman. How handsome she looked 
to-day ! ” 

Lottie recalled to her mind Miss Savage’s face, so sad and 
yet so handsome and refined, with her white hair and her 
aristocratic appearance. 

“ I’m not fit to latch her shoes. She is a very superior 
woman, as General Willoughby says ; she’ll refine him ; I 
should only put a coat of polish on him. He will sit at her 
feet and worship her. I should have sat at his feet, when 
he was not looking, and, I suppose, worshiped him ; ‘Man 


LOTTIE’S PENANCE. 


339 


was born to worship something, particularly woman,’ so some 
wiseacre said. I wonder who said it.” 

Here Lottie pulled a rose which was hanging close to her, 
and picked it remorselessly to pieces, letting the petals fall 
on her dress at her feet. 

“ Yes, I must give him up. Everyone will think I am do- 
ing so because of my money, and because of the fire ; he 
will think so, too. I am glad of that ; it is part of my pen- 
ance ; it will serve me right ; it will punish me for having 
been such a vulgar, yes, Lottie Vaughan, vulgar^ v-u-1 vul, 
g-a-r gar, vulgar — I hate the word, it stings like a whip — 
VULGAR, little, forward, cap-setting minx.” 

Lottie buried her face in her hands at this point in her 
self-abuse, and sat chewing the cud of her reflections for 
some minutes ; then she rose, scattering the rose petals to 
the ground as she did so, and walking to the door of the 
conservatory, looked down at The Dell, nestling below. 

“Yes, ril give him up to her. I’ll write to him to-night 
as soon as I get home, and break it off. It won’t kill me ; 
it will only take all the sweetness out of my life. I shall 
settle down in time, and spend the rest of my existence 
driving mother about in a pony carriage, and looking after 
Jack. Later on there will be Lily’s children to see to. I 
shall have plenty to do. Jack will marry some day, and Aunt 
Lottie can spoil his babies for him. I am not passionately 
fond of babies, so I dare say I shall do better as an aunt 
than I should have done as a mother.” 

Here Lottie opened the door of the conservatory, and sat 
down for a minute on the steps which led to the garden, and 
continued her reflections. 

“ I shall leave Workwell, and make mother go to some 
cottage near Vaughan Park at once. I can give George up, 
but I can’t live under his nose, and watch him growing 
fatter and happier every day. He is sure to grow fat. A 
saint would do it, no doubt, but I am only a sinner going to 
do penance for the rest of my life, for — yes, let me say it 
again — for my vulgarity ! How my cheeks burn ! Six 
o’clock now striking ! I must go home and write to George 
before dinner. He was coming in this evening to hear 
about my visit to his Marion. Ah ! well, he won’t come 
after he has had my letter ; perhaps he will go to Marion 


Lotties wooing. 


instead. Happy Marion ! Miserable, miserable Lottie ! 
Get up and go home.” 

Here Lottie rose with a sigh, and leaving the house by the 
conservatory, walked slowly down the hill toward The Cot- 
tage, every step taking her, as she believed, further and 
further from the happiness she had so nearly grasped. And 
yet, sad as she felt, she was happier than she had been since 
the night of the ball. All those intervening days, and a great 
part of the nights, had been spent in a struggle between her 
higher and her lower nature. 

Her higher nature had been urging her, ever since her 
engagement, to confess to George Barrett all the artifices of 
which she had been guility in her endeavors to woo him ; 
her lower nature had shrunk from such an ordeal. Since 
the ball it had seemed to her that confession alone would 
not be sufficient atonement ; she must make reparation also, 
she must give him up ; she had fought against these prompt- 
ings of conscience, and used every argument which occurred 
to her on both sides of the question, but it was no use. 

Something was urging her to do this thing, and she knew 
she would have no peace until she had made up her mind 
to do it. Now that she had resolved to do it, she was hap- 
pier, or rather, less miserable than she had been. The 
mental agony which always precedes a great sacrifice was over, 
and very often that agony is worse than the actual sacrifice. 

But, just as the martyr’s real trial is the doubt whether he 
is right, so with Lottie ; after she had made up her mind 
to sacrifice herself came the doubt — was she right in doing it ? 

Wouldn’t it be better to confess everything, at least nearly 
everything, to Mr. Barrett, and let him break off the engage- 
ment, as she felt sure he most certainly would do when he 
heard what a scheming little creature he had chosen for 
his wife ? 

No, she would not do that. She could bear to cut her 
own throat, but she could not put the knife into his hand, 
and calmly wait for him to cut it for her. 

Conscience might urge this, but she chose to hear it coun- 
seling sacrifice rather than confession, and she went home 
determined to slay her Isaac at once, feeling it was one of 
those things which, “ if it were done, when ’tis done, then 
'twere well it were done quickly.” 


COMCERNS MR. BARRETT. 




CHAPTER XXXVII. 

CONCERNS MR. BARRETT. 

Mr. Barrett was worried. 

Worry is a terrible thing to cope with. Better an “armed 
band ” of sorrows than of worries. Worry destroys the moral 
and physical equilibrium ; it upsets the liver, and tries the 
temper, and is the cause of most of those little sins, the sin- 
fulness of which a certain bishop waxed so eloquent about 
some years ago. 

Since the night of the fire, Mr. Barrett had been very 
much worried about many things. In the first place, he 
had the insurance agents down to make an estimate of the 
extent of the damage, and until Mr. Savage was dead he 
had not dared to hint to them that he had good reason to 
believe the fire was not accidental. As soon as Mr. Savage 
was dead he felt bound to tell them he was morally 
certain the poor deceased madman had set fire to the 
house. 

He could not actually prove this, but when he heard 
from Mr. Long that Mr. Savage had been buying quanti- 
ties of cotton wool, a parcel of which was found hidden in 
an outhouse, then not a shadow of doubt remained in Mr. 
Barrett’s mind that when they were all at supper Mr. Sav- 
age had carried the cotton wool upstairs into the bed- 
rooms, laid it on the beds — which had been completely 
destroyed in all the rooms — and then, later on, had gone 
up again and set fire to it. 

In addition to the extra work the fire had given him, his 
duties as agent could not be neglected, and, of course, did 
not go smoother than usual just when he wanted them to 
do so ; and then there was Mr. Savage’s death and funeral 
to attend to, besides which he was left sole executor. 

The consequence was, in all this press of business, his 
preparations for his marriage had been very much delayed, 
and he had seen little or nothing of Lottie since the fire. 

On the evening of her interview with Miss Savage, and 
subsequent decision to break off her engagement, he made 
up his mind to go to The Cottage directly after dinner, 


342 


LOTTIE'^ WOOING. 


have a long evening with Lottie, and get her to settle 
whether he should take a furnished house in the neighbor- 
hood, or get someone to supply his place for three or four 
months, and go abroad for the winter. 

He felt fagged and out of spirits, and he hoped she would 
decide on the latter course, as an idle life and fresh scenes 
for a few months would be very welcome to him. 

Just as he had finished his dinner, a note was brought to 
him from Lottie ; he took it eagerly, for Lottie had not 
favored him with many letters since they had been engaged^ 
He guessed it was to ask him to go across to The Cottage 
for the evening, but on opening it he found a most unwel- 
come surprise in store for him. 

Surprise is generally a pleasurable feeling, but there was 
no element of pleasure in this surprise, and perhaps it would 
not be exaggerating to say, that nothing in this world of 
surprises could have surprised George Barrett so much as 
did the following letter : 

“The Cottage, Wednesday Evening. 

“ My Dear George : 

“ I call you by your Christian name for the last time — 
but I know you will wish me to do so — until the link which 
binds us together is snapped asunder. 

“ The object of this letter is to ask you to release me from 
my engagement to marry you. Will you do so ? 

“ I have come to the conclusion that it will be far better 
for all of us ; by ‘ all,’ I mean you, me, and Miss Savage, 
whom you will now be at liberty to marry. 

“ I have considered the matter thoroughly, if not prayer- 
fully as Mr. Short would say ; for, as you know, I am not a 
prayerful woman, and I have decided to ask you to cancel 
our engagement. 

“ Should anyone ask you why it has seemed best unto thy 
Lottie to do this thing, you can tell them our engagement 
only existed because I was a mercenary little creature 
wanting a home when we contracted it ; and you were a 
rejected admirer of Miss Savage’s, who by the death of 
her father is now able to marry. She will make you a 
thousand times better wife than 


“ Lottie.” 


CONCEIT NS MR. BARRETT. 343 

“ What the is she up to now ? ” exclaimed Mr. Bar- 

rett, flinging the letter to the ground. 

“ I’ll be whipped if I know,” he muttered, throwing him- 
self back in his chair, with his hands clasped behind his 
head. 

“ Release her from her engagement and marry Marion 
Savage ! What confounded cheek ! Well, there are two 
excellent reasons against the last part of her programme ; 
one is, Marion Savage has no intention of marrying me, and 
the other I have no intention of marrying her. As to re- 
leasing Lottie, that is another story altogether, quite another 
story,” he muttered half aloud. 

Then he remained lost in thought for some ten minutes, 
but no one could have read his thoughts from his face. 
Presently he began to talk to himself again. 

“ I have a great mind to pack up my portmanteau, send 
in a letter of resignation to the duke, and go straight off to 
Australia, or New Zealand, or some island on the other side 
of the globe where no women are allowed to land, and 
remain there for the rest of my days. Upon my word, this 
is a pleasant little surprise for a tired man within a month 
of his marriage ! Let me read the letter again.” 

He did so. 

“ Umph ! The calmness of it ! The cold-blooded heart- 
lessness ! Not one word of regret, not one word of affection 
from beginning to end ! A crueler letter was never penned 
even by deceitful woman.” 

Here Mr. Barrett got up from his chair, thrust his hands 
into his pockets and stamped up and down the room, 
muttering some things which were not exactly blessings on 
the weaker sex in general and on Lottie in particular. 

“I’d have taken my dying oath that she loved me,” he 
said at last. 

It was a strong expression and not a refined one, but he 
was alone, he was deeply moved, and at such times the real 
nature of a man is apt to assert itself. He had risen from 
the ranks, and in moments of deep excitement the language 
of the class from which he had sprung was apt to rise to his 
lips. It takes three generations, at least, to prevent such 
reversions to type entirely. 

He threw himself into his chair again as he said this, and 


344 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


then, great strong man as he was, he buried his face in his 
hands and sobbed as men do when alone, oftener than their 
fellow-men suppose. 

Perhaps he was only tired, and wept as Mrs. Browning 
tells us women weep, because they are tired, not because 
they have lost a world ; perhaps he was sorry for himself, 
and there is no more prolific source of tears than self-pity ; 
perhaps his self-love was wounded, and wounded self-love 
brings forth some of the bitterest tears that flow. 

Who shall say why he wept ? 

Weep he did, long and bitterly, and then he lighted a pipe 
and sat smoking and meditating on his position. 

He was to have been married in three weeks. That day 
three weeks was the day Lottie had fixed for her wedding, 
and now she had changed her mind. 

He would be the laughing stock of the county, jilted so 
near his wedding day. It was such a sudden blow Lottie 
had dealt him, and yet when he came to think over the past 
few weeks, and her conduct during them, he thought it was 
not so sudden after all. 

Lottie had certainly changed very much since she came 
•into her fortune, she had been restless and fitful and very 
often unhappy ; and yet when he had offered to release her, 
she had refused to be given up. 

Should he hold her to her bargain now as she had held 
him to his ? 

Should he refuse to give her up ? 

If he were only certain that she loved him, he certainly 
would refuse to do so ; but he was by no means certain 
of it ; perhaps she was the mercenary little creature she 
acknowledged herself to be ; perhaps Mr. Savage, with a 
madman’s aptitude for seeing beneath the surface, had 
judged her accurately, when he called her a scheming, 
designing girl. 

Here the course of Mr. Barrett’s thoughts was interrupted 
by the entrance of an hotel servant with a message from 
Miss Savage, asking him if he could spare half an hour to go 
to The Dell, as she wanted particularly to see hfm. 

The Dell was the last place he would have gone to that 
evening, had he been left to himself, but he was glad of any 
distraction, and he was always ready and glad to be of use 


CONCERNS MR. BARRETT. 


345 


to others, particularly to Miss Savage, so he sent word he 
would be with her immediately. 

Ten minutes later, as he left the hotel, he met Jack 
Vaughan going to post a letter to Alec Willoughby for Lily. 

** Hallo, Barrett ! Are you coming across to us ? I 
shall be back directly. Lottie will look after you till I come 
in,” exclaimed Jack. 

This remark would, in an ordinary way, have induced 
Mr. Barrett, as it was meant to do, to have a mock fight 
with his future brother-in-law, but it now failed to do any- 
thing of the kind. 

“ No. I am going to The Dell and I may be detained 
there some time. It is nine o’clock now. Good- night,” 
said Mr. Barrett coldly. 

“ Umph ! Seems on stilts. Poor chap, I suppose that 
fire has ruffled his temper. I don’t wonder at it,” thought 
Jack. 

“ He knows nothing of his sister’s inconstancy,” thought 
Mr. Barrett, as he made his way to The Dell. 

He found Miss Savage sitting alone in her pretty little 
drawing room, which was well lighted, and looked cozy and 
comfortable, with a fire burning in the grate though it was 
scarcely cold enough to need one. The cat was purring on 
the hearth and her dachshund was lying in her lap. An 
open novel lay on a table by her side. 

“ She does not look lonely, though she is alone,” thought 
Mr. Barrett as he entered the room. 

“ Come near the fire, George. How good of you to come 
so quickly. I have had a letter this evening I want to con- 
sult you about, and I knew you would be busy in the morn- 
ing. I must answer it to-morrow, and I can’t make up what 
I am pleased to call my mind as to what I shall say. But 
how pale you are looking. Will you have a glass of wine ? ” 

“ No ; thanks.” 

“ Is there anything fresh the matter ?” 

“ Nothing of any consequence. It will be all right fifty 
years hence.” 

“ Then there is something ? Can’t you tell your old 
friend what it is, George ? Woman’s wit is sometimes worth 
more than a man’s wisdom,” said Miss Savage, putting the 
dog off her lap, for her sympathetic nature told her Barrett 


346 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


shared the objection of most men to seeing a woman they 
like fondle a dog. It was a silent way of saying she was 
prepared to give him her sole and undivided attention. 

“ No, I came to discuss your business, not my own. What 
is the letter about ? ” 

It sounded abrupt, but Miss Savage knew he would prob- 
ably confide in her before he went away, so she handed him 
her letter. 

It was from a married friend, asking her to take charge of 
her two children for five years, while she was in India with 
her husband and his regiment. They were little girls of 
five and six, and their mother, who was heartbroken at 
having to leave them, said half her pain would be removed 
if Miss Savage would take charge of them, as she would then 
feel certain of the children’s happiness during her ab- 
sence. 

George Barrett threw himself into the subject. Discussed 
the terms, and strongly advised Miss Savage to undertake 
the charge of these children, instead of adopting a child, of 
which plan he had never altogether approved. 

Perhaps the five years would be extended to ten, and if 
not there was no reason why she should not get other chil- 
dren to take care of when these had to be given up. 

“ In fact, there is no reason why you should not try and 
get more now if you like, since you are fond of children. 
You are not rolling in riches, and parents often pay very 
well, as they ought to do, in such cases. At any rate, my 
advice is, close with this offer at once. It will be a great 
interest for you and brighten your life. You need not be 
afraid of growing selfish, with two children dependent on 
you to make them happy.” 

“ I am afraid I am growing very selfish, worrying you 
with all my affairs, in the midst of all your own trouble. I 
am afraid it has been too much for you. No wonder you are 
looking ill. It is a grievous thing to see that beautiful new 
house a ruin. I am always glad when it is dark, and I can 
shut out the sight of it,” said Miss Savage. 

If the house were all that is troubling me, I should not 
mind much. Six months hence there will be nothing to 
remind us that it has ever been burnt. It is not the house 
that is troubling me, Marion,” 


CONCERNS. MR. BARRETT. 347 

What is it, then ? ” asked Miss Savage, and her tone 
almost compelled him to answer. 

“ The truth is, I have been jilted. Lottie has given me 
up.” 

“ Lottie ! Given you up ! W'hat do you mean ? ” ex- 
claimed Miss Savage in amazement. 

“ What I say. 1 have a letter from her asking me to 
release her.” 

‘‘ But why ? ” 

‘‘ God only knows. Because she has discovered she has 
made a mistake, so she has availed herself of the privilege 
of her sex, and has changed her mind.” 

“ You must have made a mistake, George,” said Miss 
Savage, who could not bring herself to believe it was true. 

Am I likely to make a mistake on such a subject ? ” 
said Barrett bitterly. “ I can’t show you her letter, but 
there it is, plain enough, in black and white.” 

“ But it is the most extraordinary freak that even Lottie 
was ever guilty of. She was here to-day. I thought she 
was not looking very well, and I told her so, but she never 
hinted at anything of this kind, though, now I come to 
remember, she did not allude to her wedding.” 

“ That confirms what I tell you.” 

I can’t understand it. No, I cannot understand it, for 
I am as certain as that I am sitting on this chair, that she 
loves you.” 

“ She acts as if she did,” said Mr. Barrett ironically. 

“ She loves you, lookers-on see most of the game, you 
know; believe me, I am right in this. Have you done any- 
thing to pique her ?” 

“ Not that I am aware of, why ? ” 

“ Because it strikes me she is acting in a fit of pique or 
jealousy ; and yet, I should have thought she was too sensi- 
ble a girl to have been so foolish, but when people are in 
love they do amazingly foolish things sometimes, you know.” 

They do; but Lottie is not in love, so 1 fear your theory 
won’t hold water. What would you do if you were in my 
position ? ” 

“ I was just trying to put myself in your position. I think, 
if I were you, I should go and see her to-morrow morning 
and ask her for an explanation, I would not write, writing 


348 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


is so unsatisfactory. It is too late to go to-night, but I should 
go the first thing to-morrow morning, and have it out with 
her.” 

“ So I will. I'll go, and Til insist on seeing her. I won’t 
give her up without a struggle,” said Mr. Barrett, who soon 
after took his leave. 

When he reached the hotel he read Lottie’s letter again, 
and he came to the conclusion that Lottie was jealous, and 
jealous of Miss Savage. 

How absurd of her ! Surely, surely she knew, what he 
would take care she learnt from his lips the next day, 
before he agreed to break off the engagement. 

Yes, he would go to The Cottage after breakfast the next 
morning, for there was no time to be lost. If the engage- 
ment were broken off, there would be plenty to do in cancel- 
ing all orders for the wedding and Lottie’s trousseau; if the 
marriage were to take place, as arranged, much still remained 
to be done. Therefore the matter must be settled definitely 
one way or the other, immediately. 

It was long past midnight before he went to bed, and 
then he lay smoking and reading by gaslight till daybreak, 
when he fell into a troubled sleep and dreamt Lottie was a 
will-o’-the-wisp which he was pursuing, and which was for- 
ever eluding his grasp just as he was within arm’s length 
of her. 

He was an early riser, and often walked or rode to sortie 
farm or tenant he wanted to see on business before break- 
fast ; but to his annoyance he overslept himself on this 
occasion, and did not get down to breakfast till ten o’clock. 

A bundle of letters and papers were, as usual, by his 
plate; these he sorted, placing the greater number into a 
bag to be taken to his office, and reserving the others, which 
were of a more private character, to read while he ate his 
breakfast, for which on this occasion he had no appetite. 

Most of his letters referred to his marriage. Several were 
to announce the arrival of wedding presents ; one was from 
his tailor, requesting him to call at his earliest convenience 
and try on his wedding garments ; one was from the rector 
about the banns, which were to be published for the first 
time on the following Sunday; one was from his Grace, sig- 
nifying his desire to be present at the marriage. 


CONCERNS MR. BARRETT. 


349 


All this was rather too piquant a sauce for fried sole, and 
Mr. Barrett pushed his plate away almost untouched as he 
muttered : “What an utter fool all these good people, from 
the duke to his tailor, would think him if he had to tell them 
there was to be no wedding after all.” 

He could never face any of them, for he was very sensi- 
tive to ridicule, and he registered an inward vow, as he 
lighted a pipe to fortify him for the coming interview with 
Lottie, that if the engagement were broken off he never 
would face them ; he would go to Australia at once, sell 
Dell Court, and Workwell should know his place no more. 

He had just lighted his pipe and moved to the window 
to smoke it, when a waiter threw open the door and 
announced : 

“Mrs. Vaughan.” 

A minute or two elapsed between the announcement and 
the entry of Mrs. Vaughan, for it took that good lady some 
time to mount the two flights of stairs which led to Mr. 
Barrett’s sitting room. It was long enough for the waiter to 
half clear the breakfast table, and for Mr. Barrett to put out 
his pipe and wonder what new development in his romance 
was about to take place. 

It was not long enough for him toj guess correctly the 
object of Mrs. Vaughan’s visit, nor for him to conceal the 
surprise it caused him. She was such a very inert woman, 
that her children were wont to say it would take an earth- 
quake to get her to go out of the house on her own accord, 
and then she would be too much terrified to move. 

Mrs. Vaughan, as Mr. Barrett knew, seldom got down till 
nearly eleven, never went out alone, never paid visits ; yet 
here she was calling upon him alone at half past ten in the 
morning. 

What could it mean ? 

Was it a good or a bad sign ? 

Had she come as an ambassadress of peace, or on a secret 
mission ? • 

The good lady was puffing and panting so, when she did 
at last enter the room, that Mr. Barrett saw he must wait 
until she had recovered her breath before his curiosity was 
gratified, and the object of her visit made known. 


350 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


CHAPTER XXXVIII. 

MRS. VAUGHAN RISES TO THE OCCASION. 

Mrs. Vaughan possessed one accomplishment, if knit- 
ting can be called an accomplishment. It was almost the 
only thing she ever did except play cribbage and nod over 
a newspaper. She never even attempted any other kind of 
work ; indeed, her daughters were wont to say she could not 
tack a button on for herself ; but she certainly knitted beau- 
tifully. 

She was very anxious to help Lottie in her trosseau, and 
had undertaken to knit her silk stockings to match all her 
dresses. On the afternoon of the day on which Lottie 
decided to break off her engagement, she had promised to 
buy some silk for stockings to match her traveling dress, 
and on her return Mrs. Vaughan’s first question was “had 
she bought the silk ? ” 

“ No, mother,” said Lottie, sitting down at the writing 
table. 

“ You have not brought it, Lottie ? AVhy, what shall I 
do ? It is for your going away stockings, and I want to 
begin them this evening. Can’t you go and get it now ? ” 

“ No, mother, it is of no consequence ; besides, I must 
write these letters,” said Lottie, scribbling away at her letter 
to Mr. Barrett. 

“ No consequence, Lottie ? It is of the greatest conse- 
quence. You can’t go away with bare feet, and you’ll never 
find stockings to match that dress unless I make them for 
you ; and you so particular, too, about things matching. 
I can’t think what you mean by no consequence.” 

Lottie did not answer, but continued writing, and Mrs. 
Vaughan waddled into the morning room, where Jack and 
Lily were sitting, to bewail Lottie’s carelessness to them. 

“ Here’s Lottie been and forgotten that silk, Lily, for her 
going away stockings, and she says it is of no consequence. 
I don’t know what’s come to her, I am sure. Why, it’ll take 
me a fortnight to finish these stockings, open worked as 
they are to be.” 

“ Did Charlotte forget the silk, mother?” said Jack. 


^MRS. VAUGHAN RISES TO THE OCCASION. 35 1 

“ I don’t know, my dear, she did not say so ; all I can 
get out of her is, it is of no consequence, and there she sits 
in her hat and jacket, writing as if her life depended on the 
letter.” 

“ Is she writing to Barrett ? ” 

“I suppose so. Yes ; listen. She is now sending James 
across with it. I wonder what she has been writing to 
Barrett about,” said Mrs. Vaughan, who always called her 
son-in-law Barrett. 

“ Oh, love and nonsense, mother ; very likely she wants 
him to come in this evening,” said Jack. 

Lottie continued to write letters till the dressing bell 
rang, and while she was upstairs dressing, Mrs. Vaughan 
examined the envelopes and drew her own conclusions 
from them. 

Lily was the first to come down to the drawing room, and 
her mother signed to her mysteriously to shut the door, and 
then said : 

“ Lily, there is something up with Lottie and Barrett. I 
am sure she has been writing to her dressmaker and the shops 
she is getting her things from. My belief is she is post- 
poning her wedding. 1 know by her manner there is some- 
thing wrong. Don’t say a word ; here she comes.” 

Lottie was in a very restless mood during dinner, she ate 
little or nothing, and was evidently thankful when the meal 
was over ; she chatted much as usual, but it was evident to 
everyone that her gayety was forced. 

“ Do you expect Barrett this evening, Lottie ? ” said 
Jack. 

“ No, he is probably going to The Dell,” said Lottie, 
coloring. 

“ He is always going to The Dell. I declare I’ll tell him 
of it the next time I see him. Lottie won’t stand much 
more of that, I can see, and quite right she is,” thought Mrs. 
Vaughan, who was taking in all her eldest daughter’s pro- 
ceedings and mentally bracing herself up to some decided 
action. 

“ Shall I post your letters, Lottie ? I have to go to the 
post for Lily,” said Jack, putting his head in at the door. 

** No, thanks ; they can wait till to-morrow morning,” said 
Lottie, and Jack went without them. 


352 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


On his return he mentioned casually that he nad met Mr. 
Barrett on his way to The Dell, and Mrs. Vaughan noticed 
that Lottie, who was playing with Sell, hid her face against 
the dog for some minutes and then rose, looking very pale, 
and moved with unsteady steps toward the door ; as she 
passed the writing table she glanced at her letters. 

“I wish you would go and post my letters. Jack ? ” she 
said. 

“ O Charlotte ! Do you want me to go out again ? I 
offered to take them half an hour ago and you said to-mor- 
row morning would do.” 

“ I thought so, then ; but never mind, I see it is too late to 
catch the post now.” 

“Are they important, Lottie?” said Lily. 

“ Yes, they are rather important. They are to countermand 
my trousseau, that is all. I am not going to be married, 
after all,” said Lottie, and, without waiting to hear how this 
piece of news would be received by her family, she left the 
room. 

“ There, Lily. Didn’t I tell you so ? I knew she was up 
to something. It is all Barrett’s fault. Why does not he 
come here more and go to The Dell less? I don’t suppose 
there is anything between him and Miss Savage, but it 
doesn’t look well his going there so often. I don’t wonder 
that Lottie is angry ; she has too much spirit to stand any 
nonsense of that kind,” said Mrs. Vaughan. 

“Oh, mother ! Lottie can’t be such a goose as to be jeal- 
ous of Miss Savage. Sir Claude might as well be jealous of 
my friendship with Miss Willoughby. It is only a lover’s 
quarrel. I thought Barrett was rather savage to-night when 
I met him,” said Jack. 

“ I don’t believe Miss Savage has had anything to do with 
it. Lottie has only made a cat’s paw of her, because she 
wants to break off her engagement. She is behaving very 
badly, and I shall tell her so when I go to bed,” said Lily. 

Lily had no opportunity of carrying out this threat, for 
when she went upstairs she found Lottie had moved her 
things into Mrs. Vaughan’s room, and locked herself up in 
her own room for the night. 

The next morning Lottie looked worn and ill ; there were 
great black marks under her eyes and not a particle of color 


MRS. V A UGH AM RISES TO THE OCCASION. 353 

in her usually rosy cheeks ; no one, not ever Mrs. Vaughan, 
who for a wonder appeared at breakfast, ventured to allude 
to the engagement and its abrupt termination. 

Lottie talked on indifferent subjects. Silence was almost 
impossible to Lottie, and after breakfast she went to feed her 
poultry as usual. 

When she was gone, Mrs. Vaughan sent Lily for her bon- 
net and cloak, and having dressed herself, left the house, 
declining to tell her youngest daughter, whom she per- 
emptorily ordered to mind her own business, where she was 
going. 

“I say. Jack, mother is gone to see Mr. Barrett; I 
watched her from the window. How angry Lottie will 
be.” 

“ It is my belief, Lil, there will be a good big row to-day, 
so, I propose you and I go and spend the day with the Wil- 
loughbys. Shall we ? ” 

“ Yes ; Lottie does not choose to confide in me, and mother 
is cross, so I am not wanted at home. Let us be off ; we can 
go for a walk before we turn up at Greenhouse.” 

While Jack and Lily were thus making themselves scarce, 
and Mrs. Vaughan was interviewing Mr. Barrett, Lottie 
came in from the garden to find the house empty ; Lily had 
left word where she and Jack were gone, but the servants 
knew nothing of Mrs. Vaughan’s movements. 

“ It is very odd ; I wonder where she is gone. I never 
knew her go out alone before in my life,” thought Lottie, 
who, under ordinary circumstances, would have started off 
immediately to look for her mother, but she was too much 
occupied with her own thoughts to do so now. 

Moreover she was physically exhausted ; she had had a 
terrible night and had scarcely closed her eyes, and felt 
worn out with suspense and grief. She had expected an 
answer to her letter that morning, and was very much sur- 
prised to find Mr. Barrett had not written. 

She concluded he had taken her advice, and had gone 
straight to propose to Miss Savage when Jack met him ; still 
he might have written. 

Was he going to take no notice of her letter ? 

Was he simply going to act upon it ? 

Surely he must intend to write and release her. 


354 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


Why did he keep her all this time in such a horrible state 
of suspense ? 

She could do nothing till she knew for a certainty all was 
over between them ; and when she knew that, she thought 
she'^hould just like to lie down and go to sleep and never 
wake again. 

She had tried, during the last night’s long weary hours, to 
face the future without George Barrett for her husband, 
and had utterly failed to do so ; her brain felt numb and 
refused to conjure up any visions of Lottie Vaughan, 
spinster. 

Until she heard from Mr. Barrett that all was over 
between them, she hesitated to countermand her trousseau, 
and was not sorry that the letters had missed the last night’s 
post. 

She was sitting idle, curled up on the sofa with Sell, when 
Mrs. Vaughan returned, hot and panting. 

“ Where have you been, mother ? ” 

“Out.” 

“ So I see ; wonders will never cease ; where did you 
go ! ” said Lottie languidly. 

“ Never mind where I have been. I am not obliged to tell 
my children where I have been, every time I set foot out- 
side the house. I am old enough to take care of myself.” 

“ Have you been to see George Barrett ? ” asked Lottie, 
as it suddenly occurred to her that was where her mother 
had been. 

“ What if I have ? He is coming here directly to see you, 
and you can cross-question him.” 

“ I can’t see him, mother. I am not well enough. You 
must tell him so if he comes. Nothing will induce me to 
see him,” said Lottie, who was inwardly hungering to set 
eyes on him again. 

“There he is ; there is the door-bell,” said Mrs. Vaughan. 

“ Well, you must go to him, mother, and say I can’t 
possibly see anyone to-day,” said Lottie, putting her little 
hands mechanically up to smooth her pretty hair. 

Mrs. Vaughan rose and waddled into the drawing room, 
leaving Lottie trembling with excitement. 

She came back in a minute or two. 

“ Barrett says he will wait till you are well enough to see 


M/^S. VAUGHAN^ RISES TO THE OCCASION. 355 

him ; but if he waits all day, he won’t leave the house till he 
has seen you.” 

“ What does he want ? ” said Lottie, coloring. 

“ He will soon tell you, if you go into, the drawing 
room.” 

“ What did you say to him, mother ? Tell me that,” said 
Lottie, who, true coquette as she was, now that Barrett had 
come after her, longed to run away from him. 

“ Ask him yourself, Lottie. I am not going to be mixed 
up in it, I can tell you. He is here and he means to see you, 
so the sooner you go to the drawing room, or let him come 
here, the better. Barrett is not a man to be trifled with, and 
so you will find. Come, get up off the sofa and send that 
dog out and go to him.” 

“ I can’t, mother.” 

“ Very well, I shall send him in here, and. Sell, you come 
with me, you are not wanted. Barrett will be mad if he 
sees you petting that dog,” said Mrs. Vaughan, who was 
secretly very much pleased with her morning’s work. 

When she had recovered her breath after mounting the 
stairs to Mr. Barrett’s rooms, she plunged at once into her 
business without any beating about the bush. 

“ Mr, Barrett, I have come to ask you the meaning of all 
this nonsense about Miss Savage and Lottie, and her engage- 
ment being broken off,” she said. 

“ I was not aware that Miss Savage had anything to do 
with it. All I know is, Lottie has asked me to release her 
from her engagement without giving me any reason. The 
truth is, I suppose now that she has money of her own and 
Dell Court is burnt, she wishes to give me up.” 

“ That’s not it. Lottie knows Dell Court will soon be 
rebuilt, and besides, she cares more for your little finger 
than she does for her five hundred pounds a year.” 

“ How do you know Lottie cares two straws for me ? ” 

“Because I am her mother, and I can read my own 
child’s heart, if I can’t read much else. Shall I tell you 
what I think is the matter with Lottie ? ” said Mrs. 
Vaughan. 

“ Yes, pray do.” 

“ I believe she is jealous of your friendship with Miss 


356 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


Savage. I have said several times it was a pity you went 
to The Dell so often, for Lottie is a high-spirited girl, and 
she has had lots of attention from officers. Why, she would 
not so much as look at a civilian in Jersey, and she is not 
one to stand being slighted.” 

“Slighted ! My dear Mrs. Vaughan, I would not slight 
her for the world ; and as for Miss Savage, why, Lottie 
advises me to marry her, though I need hardly say I have 
no intention of doing anything of the kind.” 

“ That is it then. Lottie is jealous of Miss Savage. 
I knew she was. Why don’t you come and see her and 
have it out with her ? ” 

“ I was just coming when you were announced, but I am 
very glad I have seen you first, as now I have some clew to 
the mystery. I’ll come back with you, if I may?” 

“ No, don’t do that. No one knows I have been to see 
you. Come as soon as you like after me, but let me get 
home first, and mark my words, you will find I was right. 
Lottie is only jealous,” said Mrs. Vaughan. 

Mr. Barrett gave her his arm downstairs, and as soon as 
he thought she had had time to get home, he followed her 
to The Cottage, where he took up his position in the 
drawing room awaiting Lottie’s pleasure. 

He was quite determined not to leave the house until he 
had seen her. He had a meeting of the Board of Guardians 
to attend at twelve that morning, and he was due at 
Chesterfield that afternoon, but the Guardians would have 
to meet without him, and the Chesterfield lawyer wait till 
he was at liberty to attend to such prosaic matters as dis- 
puted rights of way. To-day George Barrett was occupied 
with the poetical side of life. 

“ I can’t get her to come to you. You must go to her. 
She is in the morning room,” said Mrs. Vaughan, who was 
so exhausted with her morning’s work that she sank into 
the courting chair, and dropped off to sleep while Mr. 
Barrett went in search of Lottie. 


IN WHICH CONFESSIONS ARE HEARD. 357 


CHAPTER XXXIX. 

IN WHICH CONFESSIONS ARE HEARD. 

Lottie was sitting on the sofa, leaning against the head 
of it, when Mr. Barrett entered the room. She did not rise, 
nor speak, nor look up, when he came in, but sat there pale 
and sad and silent. 

He put his hat and gloves on to a table, and drawing 
a chair close to her, sat down facing her, and he, too, looked 
very pale and grave. 

“ Lottie, I have come to ask the meaning of the letter 
I received from you last night,” he said in a low voice. 

Lottie did not speak. 

“ Do you really wish our engagement to be at an end ? ” 
he said, in the same tone. 

Still Lottie did not speak, but he saw she was moved, for 
she was trembling. 

“ Answer me, please, Lottie. Is it your real wish that 
we should break off our engagement on the eve of our mar- 
riage ? ” 

“ It is my request,” said Lottie, in a very low voice. 

“ I know that, but what I want to know is, do you wish 
it ? ” persisted Mr. Barrett. 

Lottie strove to answer, but her lips refused to say “ yes,” 
and pride would not let her say “no.” 

“ Lottie, if you can look straight at me and say you wish 
for nothing so much as to say good-by to me forever, why I 
will say good-by, and sail for Australia by the next mail. 
Do you wish it, Lottie ? ” 

Lottie hid her face in the sofa, and Mr. Barrett came to 
the conclusion it was useless trying to get an answer to this 
question, so he tried another. 

“ Have I done anything to offend you ? ” 

“ No, oh, no ! ” said Lottie quickly. 

“ Your mother says I go to The Dell too much, and that 
you are jealous of my friendship with Miss Savage ; is that 
true ? ” 

“ No, I don’t think I am jealous of Miss Savage ; at any 
rate, that is not my reason for asking you to release me,” 


358 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


said Lottie, lifting her head from the sofa, but carefully 
avoiding looking at him. 

“ Then, before I agree to do so, and by so doing make 
myself the laughing stock of the neighborhood, I must beg 
you to give me your reasons. You owe me that, and I don’t 
leave the house until I know them. Why do you want to 
give me up ? ” 

There was no tenderness in his voice, nothing to show his 
whole heart and soul were bound up in her answer ; only a 
dogged determination not to give in without a struggle. 

“ Because I am not worthy of you ; because if you knew 
half the wicked things I have done, you would not want to 
marry me,” said Lottie, who had choked down her emotion 
and now forced herself to speak. 

Don’t be too sure of that. It strikes me you are a little 
in the dark as to how much I desire to have you for my wife. 
You appear to be under the impression that it makes very 
little difference to me whether I marry you or Marion Sav- 
age. Are you laboring under this delusion ? ” 

Mr. Barrett had taken both Lottie’s little hands into his 
strong ones as he said this, and as he asked the question he 
pulled her close to him. 

“ I think Miss Savage would make you a much better 
wife than I should,” said Lottie. 

“ Do you ! Do you know if you were to tell me you had 
committed some crime, and if Marion Savage were a ten 
times better woman than she is, one hair of your head would 
still be dearer to me than she is, attached though I am to 
her,” said Mr. Barrett calmly, but it was the calm before a 
storm. 

“ I did not know it before,” whispered Lottie, who now 
found herself in his arms. 

“ You know it now, but one thing you can never know, 
and that is, how I love you,” said Mr. Barrett. 

Certainly he now did his best to show her the truth of this 
assertion, and for a few minutes she submitted to the pro- 
cess, which she apparently did not find altogether unpleasant. 

“Let me go,” she said at last. 

“ O Lottie ! why did you make me love you if you never 
meant to love me ?” said Mr. Barrett, as Lottie sank back 
on the sofa, and he rose and seated himself by her side. 


IN WHICH CONFESSIONS ARE HEARD. 359 

“ I did mean to marry you. I had every intention of 
marrying you ; that is the worst of it. Listen, George, I 
shall have no peace till you know everything ; I have had 
none ever since I accepted you, but I could not bring myself 
to tell you. Perhaps if I had known what I know now, I 
might have done it before. At any rate, I must tell you 
now, and if, when you know all, you still want to marry 
me, I — I — I ” 

“Well, what will you do?” said Mr. Barrett, putting his 
arm round Lottie’s little waist. 

“ Wait till you know all, and then I’ll tell you. I must 
begin at the very beginning. You know, at least you don’t 
know, but perhaps you can guess how fearfully hard up we 
were, when we lost our furniture.” 

“ Yes, I can imagine it.” 

“ I was at my wits’ end. I did not know what to do. I 
knew we could not live on our pittance in England without 
getting into debt. We managed in Jersey, but living is cheaper 
there than here. Then I saw you. I knew you were well 
off and I made up my mind I must marry you for the sake 
of my family. There seemed nothing else to be done. It 
was the only thing I could think of. I did not love you a 
bit then, but I set to work to try and make you love me.” 

“And you succeeded beyond your expectations?” said 
Mr. Barrett. 

“ Not at first, George, not at first. That was the worst of 
it. If you had shown any signs of loving me I should not 
have been reduced to the straights I was in.” said Lottie 
with her usual vivacious manner asserting itself. “ But you 
would not rise, angle as I might, though I tried every kind 
of bait to lure you on,” she went on. 

“ All is fair in love and war,” said Barret. 

“ But I was not in love, that is the worst part of it. I 
can’t lay that flattering unction to my soul. There would 
have been some excuse for me, if I had been in love, per- 
haps. O George, I must tell you some of the wicked 
things I did. This dreadful thing they call conscience 
drives me to it, though I know it will make you hate me.” 

“Try. I am not afraid.” 

“ But I am,” said Lottie. 

“ Nevermind, tell me.” 


360 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


“ Well, you remember that picnic we gave at Rosedale, 
and the gypsy who told my fortune ? " 

“ Yes.” 

“ Well, I bribed her to tell me that you loved me, and 
that we should marry.” 

“ I knew that,” said Barrett coolly. 

“ O George, you did not.” 

“ I did. Old Savage told me he saw you tip the gypsy, 
and I guessed why. What next ? ” 

“ Well, you remember that alarm about the burglars here, 
when Jack was going away on that driving tour ? ” 

“ Perfectly.” 

“ I got that up. I opened the window myself. I was not 
in the least nervous. I only pretended to be because I 
wanted an excuse for asking you to stay in the house.” 

“ Of course I knew that, and to pay you out I gave you 
Sell, and would not pay for his license or his kennel; I 
nearly relented when I heard the name you had given 
him.” 

George ! I believe, sir, you have been very nearly as 
bad as I have ? ” 

“ I should not wonder if I have been rather worse in my 
time. What next?” 

“ The next thing is very bad. It is almost the worst of 
all. Not quite the worst, but very nearly. You remember 
my making a mistake, and inclosing a letter, refusing an 
offer of marriage, in your envelope instead of an invitation ?” 

“Yes.” 

“Well, it was not a mistake. I did it on purpose.” 

“ Of course I knew that, and very clever it was of you. 
And you accidentally put the proposal into the card basket 
and willed me to read it when we were doing thought read- 
ing.” 

“ Yes. O George ! you don’t mean to say you knew 
all my tricks and yet loved me ? ” 

“ I don’t know about all. You see I am only a mortal 
man with a finite mind. I am not omniscient.” 

“Ah ! You don’t know the worst yet. About that pro- 
posal, George, I wrote it myself,” said Lottie, in a very low 
voice, hiding her cheeks in Mr. Barrett’s waistcoat. 

“ I suspected as much.” 


IN WHICH CONFESSIONS ARE HEARD. 361 


‘‘ But don’t you hate me ? Don’t you think me a horrid, 
designing, unscrupulous little wretch ? ” 

“ Never mind what I think of you. I love you, that is all 
that matters.” 

“ But, George, there's the worst of all to come, the very 
worst. I — I — would not tell you that, only there is just a 
little excuse for it.” 

“Let’s have the excuse first, then.” 

“Well, when I played the worst of all my tricks — it was 
almost a crime — I — I — was desperate ; I did not care what 
I did so long as I won you, for I — I loved you, then.” 

“ Do you really mean it, Lottie ? Say it again, dear ! Do 
you really and truly love me ? ” said Mr. Barrett in a voice 
which trembled with delight. 

“Yes ; I am a goose to tell you, but it is the only excuse 
I have to offer. I loved you from the day you saved my 
life ; at least, I never knew I loved you till then,” whispered 
Lottie. 

“ I don't want to hear any more confessions, Lottie ; you 
have told me all I want to know. Perhaps I know the rest 
without being told. Nothing you can tell will make me want 
to give you up. I have known all from the very beginning, 
except that you loved me. That I never dared to hope, 
though I tried to find out.” 

“ How did you try ? ” 

“ Well, I sent you that bright blue silk dress, which I 
knew you would call atrocious, as a test. I said to myself, 
if she wears it I shall have some hope.” 

“ George, you sinner, you wicked old thing, how dared 
you ? What else, sir ? ” 

“ Well, there was the fright I gave you about the drawing 
room suite and the red and green carpets. I very nearly 
bought a suite covered in magenta plush, just to see how 
you would look when you saw it, only it was such waste of 
money.” 

“ It is lucky for you you did not yield to that temptation. 
I could not have survived a drawing room suite covered in 
magenta plush. Fancy your knowing all my little games 
and looking so innocent all the time ! ” 

“ Yes ; you see, my lady, you won’t be able to play any 
of your pranks after marriage. You are going to marry a 


362 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


man capable of looking after you, and I believe that is why 
you want to get out of marrying me.” 

“Of course it is; w'on’t you let me off?” said Lottie, 
whose arms were now round Mr. Barrett’s neck. 

“It is too late now, Lottie ; we’ll take each other for better 
or worse, and make the best of the bargain.” 

Now, it was eleven o’clock when Mr. Barrett first went 
into the morning room, and at one o’clock, when the bell 
rang for luncheon, he was still there, neither he nor Lottie 
having any idea of the way time was galloping. 

“ One o’clock ! And I ought to have been at a Board of 
Guardians at twelve. What on earth am I to do?” 
exclaimed Mr. Barrett. 

“ Come and have some lunch ; the meeting would be over 
by the time you got there, if you went now.” 

“ Yes, it would ; moreover, I am due at Chesterfield at 
three. I have ordered the dog-cart at a quarter to two.” 

“ Take me with you,” said Lottie, as they went into the 
dining room to inform Mrs. Vaughan, who had been asleep 
till the bell woke her, that the wedding would take place 
after all. 

“ And very glad I am to hear it,” said Mrs. Vaughan, who 
went to her grave under the delusion that her maternal 
instinct, in divining the cause of Lottie’s jealousy, alone 
prevented the breaking off of the match. 

Lottie was in wild spirits during lunch, and, as soon as the 
meal was over, hurried upstairs to dress for Chesterfield, and 
then left the house in a great state of excitement, saying 
they would both be home to dinner that evening. 

“ She has gone off like a mad thing, Lily, without even so 
much as ordering dinner. You had better go and see after 
it, for cook gave us liver and bacon for lunch. Lottie had 
ordered nothing, and I was asleep, but I don’t believe either 
she or Barrett had the remotest idea what they were eating. 
I never saw two people so silly in my life ; he could not 
keep his eyes off Lottie, and she was nearly as bad. I was 
quite ashamed for James to see them. You and Alec are 
silly enough, Lily, but you are nothing to what those two 
were to-day.” 

“ Hallo, Lil ! I thought you had an idea they did not 
care for each other,” said Jack. 


IN WHICH CONFESSIONS ARE HEARD. 363 


“ So I had, but it seems I have made a mistake. Have 
they gone alone, mother ? ” 

“ Alone, yes, my dear. They are best alone. What do 
they want with a groom stuck up behind them listening to 
all their nonsense ? They took the dog.” 

“ I hope they won’t meet the Willoughbys, then ; Mrs. 
Willoughby would be horrified,” said Lily. 

“ I’ll tell you what, Lil, Charlotte must be punished for all 
these little indiscretions ; let us prepare a cheerful surprise 
for her on her return. What can we do ? I must have a 
look round,” said Jack. 

Presently he called Lily to him and confided to her that 
he had hit upon the very thing to punish Lottie. 

“ I am going to post her letters. She has left all those 
letters she wrote last night, countermanding her trousseau, 
on the writing table ? Won’t she be in a way when she 
hears they are gone. There will be telegrams flying and no 
end of a fuss.” 

“ O Jack ! you must not do that. It will be so awk- 
ward for Lottie,” said Lily. 

Too late, my dear. I have posted them. I would give 
five pounds to see Charlotte’s face when she hears it, if I 
could not see it for nothing.” 

To Jack’s surprise Lottie received the information not 
only calmly but gratefully on her return. 

“ Thanks. I meant to have posted them myself, but I 
forgot. They were to say I shall be in Manchester to try 
on my things to-morrow.” 

“ What a sell for you. Jack,” cried Lily. 

“ Did you think I did not mean them to go ? You 
goose. Jack. You must get up very early in the morning 
to steal a march on Lottie. There is only one person in the 
world who has ever succeeded in doing that, and in him I 
have found my match,” said Lottie, as Mr. Barrett entered 
the room. 

Yes, Lottie had won the game she had been playing, but 
it was a very dangerous one, and she had been very near 
losing. 

She is no model heroine, her faults were many and per- 
haps grievous, but she had some sterling virtues too, and 
she was a very attractive girl into the bargain, so the gods 


364 


LOTTIES WOOING. 


were kind to her, and she did not meet with the punishment 
moralists will think she deserved. 


CHAPTER XL. 

CONCLUSION. 

“All is vanity,” said Solomon. 

“ Joy is hollow,” says one pessimist. 

“ Life is not worth living,” says another. 

“ The only happy man on earth was the beggar without a 
shirt,” says the story. 

Yet in spite of all these and many more testimonies to 
the hollowness of earthly happiness, George Barrett and 
Lottie Vaughan rose on their wedding morning under the 
impression that they were perfectly happy. 

They were wrong, no doubt ; for, as Balzac tells us, man is 
never perfectly happy nor completely miserable ; perfect 
happiness and complete misery are reserved for the next 
world ; still, this bride and bridegroom were neither the first 
nor the last who have labored under a similar delusion. 
There is a great deal of happiness, as well as a great deal of 
misery, in this beautiful work-a-day world of ours ; there 
must be lights to cast the shadows. 

“ Lottie, did you know you had chosen Michaelmas Day 
for your wedding day ?” asked Lily as she helped her sister 
to put on her bridal veil. 

“ Yes, I wished to be a spectacle to men and angels for 
once in my life,” said Lottie. 

“ Oh, my dear, I hope you’ll be happy, but it is all a 
lottery,” said Mrs. Vaughan, who was weeping by her 
daughter’s side. 

“ I am happy, mother, and I am sure T don’t know why. 
I don’t deserve to be ; but wasn’t it Solomon who said ‘the 
race was not to the swift nor the battle to the strong, nor 
favor to men of skill, but time and chance happeneth to 
them all ?’ Time and chance gave me my happiness speak- 
ing from a worldly point of view, which is the only point of 
view you can expect a worldly woman like me to look at it 
from,” 


Conclusion. 365 

“I think he will make a kind husband,” said Mrs. 
Vaughan in a dubious tone. 

“ I know he will,” said Lottie, as Lily declared her ready 
for the sacrifice. 

Workwell church was crowded to see the wedding of the 
duke’s agent and Miss Vaughan, who, as soon as the cere* 
mony was over, were to start for a three months’ tour in 
Italy. 

They did not come back to Workwell till the end of 
January, and then; as Dell Court was not likely to be ready 
for them before June, they took a furnished house near The 
Cottage for six months. 

Jack had now blossomed into an Oxford man, and was 
keeping his second term when the Barretts returned. He 
was to spend the Easter vacation with Lottie and be present 
at Sir Claude’s marriage in Easter week, to which all Work- 
well was now looking forward. 

“ What about Kitty Arundel ? I have heard nothing of 
her since I came back. You are all so full of Sir Claude 
and Virginia. Is Kitty engaged yet ! ” said Lottie to Miss 
Savage one day. 

Miss Savage was one of Lottie’s most frequent visitors ; 
the little girls she had taken charge of pronounced Mrs. 
Barrett the very nicest lady they had ever seen ; and if 
Lottie had ever felt any jealousy of Miss Savage she did not 
show it now. 

“ My dear, ‘no one knows anything about Kitty ; Mr. 
Long spends half his time at Greenhouse and yet Kitty 
declares there is no engagement ; Mrs. Willoughby goes 
further, and vows there is nothing between them, and that 
there never has been and never will be anything. I believe 
she still lives in the hope that Alec will jilt Lily and wind 
up his checkered career with Kitty,” said Miss Savage. 

“ I am not afraid of that. I find my knowledge of men 
is very much less than I thought it was, when I was a,girl, 
but still I venture to think Alec will be true to Lil,” said 
Mrs. Barrett. 

So I tell Mrs. Willoughby, but you can’t convince her. 
I don’t believe Kitty cares a straw for Alec now. ‘ Alas for 
the loves that proud youth lets fall even as the beads of a 
told rosary.’ ” 


366 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


“ Don’t say alas. It is a very good thing when some loves 
fall I think. George saw Miss Arundel the other day, and 
told me she was looking very well and quite pretty.” 

“ So she is when Vi is not near to crush her with her 
brilliant style of beauty. What a handsome bride she will 
make. Mrs. Willoughby is bent on getting the duke to the 
wedding, if not to the breakfast ; she’ll never forgive you 
for getting him to your wedding if he doesn’t go to 
Virginia’s.” 

“ Then he must be made to go. I canh have a feud with 
Mrs. Willoughby, I want to be friends with everybody from 
the duke downward for George’s sake. How is Mr. Long ? 
Is he as reserved as Miss Arundel ? ” 

Yes ; I tease him about her sometimes, but he only 
looks supremely happy, which makes me think he at least 
has some hope.” 

“ I am glad the general and x\lec are reconciled. Lil 
says he was as nice as possible to them both while Alec was 
here at Christmas. 

“ Yes. Evidently he thinks Kitty does not care for Alec 
now, or I am sure he would not have forgiven him. My 
own belief is Kitty will eventually accept Mr. Long.” 

“We shall see; time will prove,” said Lottie, little 
dreaming of the surprise which was in store for them 
all. 

About a fortnight after this conversation, that is, on Val- 
entine’s Day, Mr. Long went up to Greenhouse about eleven 
o’clock. It was early for a morning call, but he was a sort 
of tame cat in the house, accustomed to come and go at all 
times, so his visit excited no attention. 

He asked for Miss Arundel, and found her alone in the 
drawing room. She wore a dark blue cloth dress, her ordi- 
nary winter morning gown. Mr. Long walked straight up to 
her, and without a word of greeting or preface said, as she 
had^told him to say on the night of the ball : 

“ Kitty, will you marry me this morning ? ” 

“ Yes,” said Kitty blushing. 

There was a little interlude, during which nothing of any 
general interest w^as said, and then Mr. Long asked if she 
were ready to start. 

“ Yes. Sanders has packed everything, and will meet us 


CONCLUSION. 367 

at Derby with the luggage,” said Kitty, who had insisted on 
taking Sanders with her. 

“ How will she get away ? ” 

“ The Rajah will see to that. She is to give him a letter 
from me as soon as she hears the bells. O Edwin ! I hope 
he won’t be angry. I do love Rajah so.” 

“ I don’t think he will. In fact I fancy he suspects we 
mean to steal a march on him some day, and I know he is 
very anxious we should be married. How long will you be 
getting ready ? I have the license and the ring in my 
pocket, and I left Short and Turner quarreling in the 
vestry. Short is to give you away, and Turner is to 
marry us.” 

“ I will be back in five minutes,” said Kitty, and shortly 
after she reappeared in a sealskin hat and jacket, and the 
runaway pair walked quietly down the drive, looking as 
innocent of all intention of getting married as the babes in 
the wood. 

Thornleigh church was only half a mile away, and there the 
ceremony was performed. Immediately after Thornleigh 
and Workwell bells rang a wedding peal, and the bride and 
bridegroom drove away to Derby in a coach and four with 
two postilions, while the inhabitants of the parishes were 
wondering who had been married. 

The truth was first known at Greenhouse, for directly the 
bells pealed out Sanders delivered Kitty’s letter to the gen- 
eral, who found on opening it that his ward had stolen a 
march on them all, and dispensed with an engagement and 
a wedding. 

I know you won’t be very angry with me. Rajah, because 
you wished me to marry Edwin. And I never could have 
said good-by to you,” wrote Kitty. And the general, who 
knew a great deal more than Kitty suspected, Mr. Long 
having given him some very broad hints, now went to 
announce the news to his wife. 

Mrs. Willoughby and Virginia were upstairs in the girls’ 
sitting room, wondering whose marriage bells were ringing. 

“ It is for no one of any consequence, or we should have 
known,” said Mrs. Willoughby. 

“ I beg your pardon, my dear, it is for someone you know 
very well,” said the general. 


368 


LOTTIE'S WOOING. 


“ Someone I know very well ? ” 

“ A member of your family, in fact.” 

“Nonsense, John, you don’t mean to say Alec has eloped 
with Lily Vaughan ! ” exclaimed Mrs. Willoughby. 

“ I said nothing about eloping. As far as I know Alec is 
with his regiment. No ; the bride is Kitty and the bride- 
groom Mr. Long.” 

“ Kitty ! Kitty ! Kitty married ! why, she was sitting here 
an hour ago with Vi and me ! Oh, I don’t believe it ! ” said 
Mrs. Willoughby, who, like a great many other people, 
seldom believed what she didn’t wish to believe. 

“Very well, my dear, I can’t help your beliefs. Here is 
a letter from Kitty explaining everything. You will see 
Sanders is to follow her with the luggage arid'meet them at 
Derby.” 

“ Kitty married to Mr. Long ! Are you quite sure there 
is no mistake, father ? ” exclaimed Virginia. 

“ Quite, my dear,” said the general, who had enough to 
do to appease Mrs. Willoughby’s anger, and to prevent Vir- 
ginia from being offended with Kitty. 

Mrs. Willoughby was furious, and declared she would 
never speak to anyone of the three curates again ; and as 
to Kitty, she was ashamed to think a girl she had brought 
up should have been guilty of such a breach of propriety ; 
what would the duke say 

“ I am afraid his Grace will be so scandalized that he will 
refuse to be present at Virginia’s wedding,” said Mrs. Wil- 
loughby. 

“ My dear mother, I don’t in the least care whether he 
comes to my wedding or not. I shall be too much occupied 
to know whether he is there or not. I confess I feel rather 
hurt at Kitty’s reserve, and I don’t understand her having 
denied being engaged. Kitty was always secret and reserved, 
but I never knew her tell an untruth,” said Virginia. 

“ She did not do so ; she never was engaged ; she says 
so in her letter. No doubt the poor child felt she had been 
foolish about Alec, and was afraid of being talked about,” 
said the general. 

“It is a very poor match for Kitty, general, with her 
fortune.” 

“ I don’t think so. Long is an excellent fellow and of a 


CONCLUSION. 


369 


good family. He has private means and is sure to have a 
living offered him before long, and he is devoted to Kitty. 
He will make her happy, whereas had she married Alec, she 
would have been miserable,” said the general. 

“ What steps do you mean to take to prevent any scandal 
arising from a marriage you seem thoroughly to approve 
of ? ” asked Mrs. Willoughby in her most withering tone. 

“ Telegraph it to the London papers, I suppose. I will go 
to Workwell at once. Barrett knows all about such things. 
He will do it for me, I have no doubt,” said the general, 
not sorry to have found an excuse for absenting himself 
from his home for a few hours. 

“ It is entirely your father’s fault. He has spoilt Kitty, or 
she would never have dared to do such a thing. We must 
take care everything is done in the very best style for your 
marriage, Vi, to counteract the impression Kitty's disgrace- 
ful conduct must make,” said Mrs. Willoughby. 

“ I don’t think it was disgraceful, mother. I rather 
admire Kitty for it ; all I blame her for is not confiding in 
us. I shall be glad when all the fuss of my wedding is over, 
though, as I am marrying a man in Claude’s position, I must 
submit to it,” said Virginia. 

And Mrs. Willoughby privately thought Virginia would 
submit with a very good grace to being the wife of a baro- 
net, and she was not in the least afraid her own daughter 
would follow Kitty’s example. 

The general carried Mr. Barrett off to lunch with him at 
The Crown, much against the latter’s inclination, for he was 
still at the stage of preferring his wife’s society to anyone 
else’s, not the slightest cloud having at present passed over 
their honeymoon. Such a perfect harmony was, however, 
not in the nature of things, and Kitty Long’s marriage was 
the indirect cause of the first matrimonial tiff between Mr. 
and Mrs. Barrett. 

Mr. Barrett sent a message to Lottie to say he would not 
be home till tea-time as he had business with the general ; 
and in the interim the news of the hasty marriage reached 
Mrs. Barrett’s ears, who impatiently awaited her husband’s 
return to hear the particulars. 

Mr. Barrett was in a rather teasing mood when he got 
home, and it was some time before Lottie succeeded in 


370 


LOri'IE’S WOOING. 


getting all she wanted to know about the wedding out 
of him. 

Well, now, what was your business with the general ? ” 
proceeded Lottie, after her husband had been put through a 
severe cross-examination. 

“ He wanted to know how to put the notice of the mar- 
riage into the London papers. I told him my wife under- 
stood that much better than I did, and he had better come 
and ask you,” said Barrett archly. 

Lottie blushed crimson, but did not answer. She was in 
the act of handing her husband a cup of tea when he said 
this ; she put down the cup and saucer, and resumed her seat 
in silence. 

Presently wondering at her silence, Mr. Barrett looked up, 
and saw she was quietly crying over her work. 

In a moment he was bending over her. 

“ Lottie ! what is the matter ? ” he asked. 

Lottie tried to push him away. 

“ Don’t, George. Go away, please. It was horribly 
unkind of you to say that to the general.” 

“To say what? About the advertisement I You dear 
silly child, you don’t suppose I really said it ! I was only 
joking,” said Mr. Barrett. 

“ It is cruel of you to joke about that,” sobbed Lottie. 

“ Then I’ll never do so again as long as I live. Don’t 
cry, Lottie, for Heaven’s sake. I would have cut my tongue 
out rather than said it had I known you would have 
minded,” said Mr. Barrett gathering his weeping wife 
into his arms. 

“ Of course I mind. George, if you ever told a single 
soul who put that advertisement into the paper, I should 
jump into the river.” 

“ Hush, darling. Be comforted. I never have told and 
I never will tell that secret to mortal man. I promise you 
faithfully.” 

“ I was not sure you knew till to-day. How did you find 
out ? ” whispered Lottie. 

“ I suspected, and when I went to the office, I found the 
notice had been posted at Chesterfield, and I knew I had 
seen a certain young person posting a letter in Chesterfield 
the day she was supposed to be in Derby.” 


CONCLUSION-. 


371 


“ I see. Well, now, you know everything that young 
person had on her conscience, but if you ever tease me 
about it again, I’ll never forgive you. Do you hear, sir ? ” 

“ I hear, and tremble to know there is one sin which will 
find no forgiveness with you. I shall always imagine 
when I see a frown on your brow that I have committed 
it.” 

“ Oh, no, you won’t. I’ll make it very clear why I frown 
when I do frown. George, have we been quarreling ? ” 
said Lottie, drying her eyes. 

“ I suppose we have. I rather like quarreling with you, 
Lottie. Shall we have another row ? ” said Mr. Barrett, 
stroking his wife’s hair. 

“ Not at present. My eyes are red, and crying is not 
becoming. George, tell me, when you saw that envelope, 
you know the one I mean, the one that was posted in 
Chesterfield, what did you think of it ? ” 

“ I thought it was part of Lottie’s Wooing — a superfluous 
part, for I was won without it.” 

“ I wish I had known you were won. What a world of 
trouble it would have saved me. I — I sometimes wonder 
if you were worth it,” said Lottie. 

“ I am sure I was not,” said Mr. Barrett. 

“ I am not so sure, but I’ll make the best of my bargain. 
Circumstances favored me or I should not have won you.” 

“ Circumstance is a very unspiritual god. I ascribe my 
happiness to a Higher Power.” 

“ Yes, but you are a good man and I am only a weak 
woman.” 


“ A creature not too bright or good 
For human nature’s daily food ; 

For transient sorrows, simple wiles, 

Praise, blame, love, kisses, tears, and smiles,” 

quoted Barrett. 

Such a woman was Lottie. 


THE END. 








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